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LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 




Ed.Alinarl 



THE CATHEDRAL TOWER, CREMONA 



LOMBARD TOWNS 
OF ITALY 



OR 



The Cities of Ancient Lombardy 



BY 



EGERTON R. WILLIAMS, Jr. 

Author of "Hill-Towns of Italy," "Plain- 
Towns of Italy," "Ridolfo," etc. 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1914 



.W5 



Copyright, 1914 
By EGERTON R. WILLIAMS, Jr. 



MAY 20 1914 




V 

CI.A371951 



^ 



TO 

HARRY MATURIN BALLOU 

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED AS A SLIGHT TOKEN 
OF MY AFFECTION AND ESTEEM 



PREFACE 

This volume completes the trilogy which I set myself, more 
than ten years ago, to write upon the most interesting cities 
and towns of Italy outside of the half-dozen commonly visited 
by travellers in making the " grand tour " : a task inspired 
by the desire to bring to a more intimate knowledge of Anglo- 
Saxon readers the countless beauties and delights — natural, 
historic and artistic — of the most important of those hun- 
dreds of wonderful places in the peninsula which had there- 
tofore escaped the attention of the general voyageur. Thus 
was born the " Hill Towns of Italy," describing the cities of 
the Apennines, north of Rome, from sea to sea; there fol- 
lowed the " Plain-Towns of Italy," covering the second most 
interesting region of the kingdom, — Venetia ; but if I charac- 
terise the district portrayed in this final volume — Lombardy 
— as only third in Interest and fascination, I shall be met 
with a chorus of objections demanding for It the first or the 
second place. The truth is, as I have found, that there can 
be no real rank amongst those three most alluring provinces 
of " that Enchanted Land, whose beauty is Inexhaustible, and 
whose boundless Interests touch, and will always touch, men 
and women who perceive the deepest concerns of the human 
soul." 1 

When we come to the cities of Lombardy, nevertheless, 
we should stop to remember that — aside from all those de- 
lights of artistic beauty and historical association which are 
common to the whole three regions — they have exercised 
upon the progress of civilisation an Influence so unique and 

1 W. R. Thayer ; in his " Italica." 

vii 



Vlll 



PREFACE 



profound that its impress Is still visible upon our modern 
institutions; an influence which was so prominent a factor in 
the making of those institutions that it should be carefully 
noted in advance by every traveller and student. 

The cause of the deviation made by these towns in the 
current of history, of their marked acceleration of the prog- 
ress of mankind, was the descent from the north of that re- 
markable Teutonic race, the Lombards, to impose upon the 
petrifying Roman customs their own free and untrammelled 
ideas of life. As Lord Lindsay put it: "The freedom of 
the North, the civilisation of the South, and the Christianity 
of the East, are the three elements from the commixture of 
which the character and history of Europe spring; and Italy 
was the field where these elements first met, and began to 
amalgamate. The invasion of the Lombards, in 568, may 
be considered as the preliminary step to this consummation. 
They were a noble race, of pure morals, and a bold, manly, 
generous, and even romantic character ; presenting the strong- 
est possible contrast to the corrupt and degenerate Romans, 
whom they held in utter contempt." ^ 

The Lombards were not, therefore, the quite wild and 
savage people that they are often represented to be, but a 
nation sufficiently developed to have attained that extraordi- 
nary individuality which was the first to resist the influences 
of ancient Rome, and to force upon her Immemorial systems 
their own Ideals of government, art, and living. Here was 
the first assertion — at least since the long-dead, ancient re- 
publics of Greece and Rome — of the rights of the individual 
man, as against centralised, autocratic rule, and the privileges 
of class and clergy. To this daring Teutonic race we owe, 
therefore, the beginnings of modern human liberty and Indi- 
vidual freedom, of the sanctity of person and of property, of 

2 Lord Lindsay ; in his " Lombard Architecture.'" 



PREFACE IX 

decentralised, representative, laissez-faire government; — 
initiated by them in these cities of north-Italy a hundred 
years or more before their cousins, the Anglo-Saxons, began 
a similar revolution in Roman Britain. The towns of Lom- 
bardy, fortunately preserved mostly intact under the preced- 
ing Goths, — w^ho had themselves been absorbed by the 
ponderous ancient Roman system, — thus took the lead in the 
advancement of free government and personal rights, and 
held it for centuries before the whole of Europe; resisting 
with heroic valour, as self-governing republics, the endless 
aggressions made upon their liberties by emperors, popes, and 
neighbouring tyrants; until the fiery spirit instilled by the 
Teutons found its supreme expression in that glorious Lom- 
bard League which annihilated at Legnano, in 1176, the 
armed hosts and the aspirations of Frederick Barbarossa. 

With the end of the second League and the final suppres- 
sion of imperial designs, the Lombard cities did — it is true, 
exhausted by the long strife of Guelf and Ghibelline — suc- 
cumb to their own despots; and the Visconti obtained sway, 
from Milan and Pavia, over all that part of the province 
which was not grasped by the splendid Gonzaghi of Mantua: 
the one family becoming by all means the most powerful, and 
the second pre-eminently the most magnificent — in princely 
living, in culture, and the use of the reborn arts — of all the 
tyrannies that sprang from Italian soil. But now there 
emerged into the sunlight the second fruits of the northern 
towns' absorption of the Lombard spirit, even more important 
— if possible — to the world at large : the beginnings of 
modern civilisation. 

That of the old Romans, as modified by the Lombards, 
had been within their stout walls safely preserved during 
these centuries of the Dark Age; some branches of ancient 
art and science had, indeed, perished, — but not by fault of 



X PREFACE 

the Lombards, under whom " the Italians enjoyed a milder 
and more equitable government than any of the other king- 
doms which have been founded on the ruins of the Western 
Empire;"^ the citizens, however, zealously keeping alive 
what handicrafts, what branches of art and the applied 
sciences, were left to them, reinvlgorated from their quon- 
dam decadence by the admixture of the powerful northern 
blood, had striven vigorously and continuously to improve 
their knowledge, to better their conditions of life, and to 
beautify their cities. The same fierce Lombard genius that 
kept them enviously at war with each other during the gener- 
ations preceding the Oath of Pontida, incited each town to 
endeavour to exceed its rivals in aggrandisement; each was a 
burning centre of civic life, that strove to outdo its neigh- 
bours in building, in the embellishment of its arts, in the 
wealth and the ostentation derived from its handicrafts and 
its knowledge of the sciences. 

When we stop to think that in these cities of northern 
Italy, during all that terrible Middle Age, remained prac- 
tically the only salvation from the feudalism which was de- 
stroying culture everywhere else In Europe, — reducing human 
life to a system of wild country serfs dependent upon savage 
baronial castles, — we realize how infinitely we are indebted 
to them for the preservation, first, and later the renovation, 
of civilised existence. 

To this period we owe the many superb examples oflFered 
us by the cities of the plain of the so-called Lombard- 
Romanesque architecture, civic and ecclesiastical, — which was 
the result of the Lombard art superimposed upon and alter- 
ing the decadent Roman. Although the Lombard dynasty 
ceased to rule toward the end of the eighth century, upon 
the coming of Charlemagne, the art of Its j)eople — by then 

s Gibbon. 



PREFACE XI 

thoroughly mixed with, and predominant amongst, the old 
Romans — continued to rule until the trecento. The Lom- 
bards, in spite of their addiction to country-life, were power- 
ful builders, and changed the features of the dying Roman 
architecture in accordance with their temperament. Above 
all — and this is our chief debt to them in the realms both 
of art and of religion — they revolutionised the form of the 
Christian church; shaping it into the beautiful edifice that 
still symbolises to us the tenets and the traditions of our faith. 

Such a daring metamorphosis of the long-established Cath- 
olic forms and prejudices was only to be expected from those 
remarkable men who first insisted upon entire freedom from 
churchly rule and clerical privileges. " Whatever merit " — 
said Gibbon — " may be discovered in the laws of the Lom- 
bards, they are the genuine fruit of the reason of the Bar- 
barians [precisely as was the common-law of the Anglo- 
Saxons], who never admitted the bishops of Italy to a seat 
in their legislative councils." The Lombards altered the 
early Roman church, — naught, as all know, but an adapta- 
tion of the heathen basilica to the uses of Christian worship, 
— into our present and millennium-old type of cathedral, 
with its entrance-porches, aisles, upper-galleries, clerestory- 
windows, side-chapels, transepts, apse, and surmounting dome. 
They also introduced the use of' bells, and the bell-tower. 
The finest remaining example of their earlier churches still 
fortunately remains in excellent condition, — S. Michele of 
Pavia. 

To all of the cities of the old Lombard kingdom, — seeth- 
ing, as they had been so long. In the envious strife not only 
of arms but of material and artistic aggrandisement, — there 
needed but the advent of the trecento artists from Tuscany 
and from the slowly dying Byzantium to kindle the fire of 
the Renaissance, whose fuel had been thus preparing. 



ifli PREFACE 

From Padua to Pavia, the blaze burst forth with quick in- 
tensity. Although the towns of that section of the realm 
which came subsequently under Venetian sway and are hence 
now called Venetia, were foremost in leading the early Re- 
naissance, the latter attained its splendid perihelion in the 
more western region covered by this volume: at Lodi, .for 
instance, with its beautiful Incoronata, at Mantua, with its 
marvellous Reggia, and at Pavia with its incomparable 
Certosa, probably the supreme monument of the Renaissance. 
Western Lombardy possesses also an unparalleled work of 
the earlier period, in those masterpieces of painting which 
Masolino of Florence, the inaugurator and teacher of the 
more highly developed schools of the quattrocento, laid upon 
the walls of the Collegiate church and baptistery of Cas- 
tiglione Olona. And at Saronno, near-by, we behold the 
crowning works of the most beautiful school of the cinque- 
cento, — Leonardo da Vinci's, — in the magnificent frescoes 
of Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari. 

That the rebirth and high development of arts and civilisa- 
tion occurred in the towns of Lombardy during the three 
centuries subsequent to their submission to local despotisms, 
shows not only how much their energies were then turned 
in that direction, but also how beneficent were those despo- 
tisms in their effect upon the masses, and in their paternal 
encouragement of all the best in art. The same jealousies 
that had kept the communes at fraternal strife, now incited 
their tyrants to exceed each other in the display of dilet- 
tanteism and in a cultured magnificence of life and surround- 
ings. We cannot be too thankful that at precisely this 
period of Italian history the revenues of many cities were 
placed in a few princely hands, able to disburse them without 
question. Thus only could the Visconti and the Sforza have 
raised the Cathedral of Milan and the Certosa of Pavia, and 



PREFACE xiii 

the Gonzaghi have erected that stupendous pile known as 
the Reggia; thus only could Mantegna and Giullo Romano 
have flourished at Mantua with their numerous pupils, Isa- 
bella d'Este have adorned her enchanted Grotta and Paradiso, 
and Leonardo have formed under the patronage of the Moro 
that glorious school which gave us Luini, Ferrari, Borgo- 
gnone, and many others. 

Of these three great despotisms which possessed Lombardy 
proper during the Renaissance, and which so remarkably ad- 
vanced the artistic progress of mankind, the two of Milan, 
owing to their greed of territory, perished successively amidst 
a rain of blood, leaving their dominions to the desolating rule 
of Spaniards and Jesuits for two hundred years ; only the 
Gonzaghi had sufficient wisdom to weather the storms of 
the early clnquecento, and continue their benign rule over the 
Duchy of Mantua till the extinction of the family-line. In 
which feat of political equilibration an important part was 
played by that paragon of womankind, " the ideal woman of 
the Renaissance," — Isabella d'Este ; whose sagacity in affairs 
of state was only paralleled by her remarkable ascendancy 
over the leading artists, litterateurs and dilettantes of that 
extraordinary epoch. Thus was Raphael's pupil Romano 
able to complete his decoration of the Reggta, and construct 
that amazing Palazzo del Te which still fortunately remains 
to us Intact, — the ideal princely villa of the Renaissance. 

It is unnecessary to add, in concluding, that Milan was 

omitted from the list of cities herein described ( as was Venice 

from the "Plain-Towns of Italy"), not only because it 

would require a volume in itself, but because this work is 

intended precisely to cover all the other towns of Lombardy : * 

*The town of Como, however, was also omitted, because it be- 
longs to that mountainous region of the great lakes which is 
quite extraneous from Lombardy proper. 



xiv PREFACE 

in the hope that it may both be of some aid to travellers, 
beyond the restricted limits of the " Baedeker," and also 
enable those who do not travel to glean a little of the Lom- 
bard beauties from my pages. With the same desire to help 
those vv^ho may follow me, I have taken pains, as heretofore, 
to give the names and qualities of those inns which I found 
by personal experience to be what a traveller in that province 
can best expect, with regard to cleanliness, proper prices, 
and a good Italian table. 

February i, 1914. E. R. W. 



CONTENTS 

I. Bergamo the Lower i 

II. Bergamo the Upper 35 

III. MONZA AND THE IrON CrOWN 73 

IV", Saronno and Varese no 

V. Castiglione Olona, Legnano, and Busto 

Arsizio 149 

VI. The Marvellous Certosa di Pavia . . .188 

VII. Pavia the Primeval 220 

VIII. Pavia the Pious 248 

IX. LoDi AND Crema 281 

X. Cremona the Contentious . . . . . 324 

XL Cremona the Captivating 357 

XII. Mantova la Gloriosa 400 

XIII. Mantua the Magnificent 446 

XIV. The Palazzo del Te, Sabbioneta, and En- 

virons OF Mantua . 5^ 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Cathedral Tower, Cremona .... Frontispiece ^ 

FACING 
PAGE 

Map , xlx v/ 

The Porch of S. Maria Magglore, Bergamo . . . 40 V 

The Cathedral of Monza . . . . . ... . 106 - 

The Certosa of Pavia, Viewed from the Small Cloister 202 !/ 



The Monument of Lodovico Sforza and Beatrice d'Este. 

The Certosa di Pavia 234 ^ 



The Monument of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. The Cer- 
tosa di Pavia *. . . 266 y' 



The Cathedral of Cremona 334 



u^ 



The Family of the Gonzaghi. Mantegna's Famous 

Fresco in the Sala degli Sposi, Mantua . . . 470 ^ 

The publishers acknowledge the courtesy of Alinari Fratelli, of 
Florence, Italy, for the use of the illustrations in this volume. 



CHAPTER I 

BERGAMO THE LOWER 

" Far to the right where Apennine ascends 
Bright as the summer Italy extends; 
Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side 
Woods over woods in gay, theatric pride ; 
While oft some temple's mould'ring top between 
With venerable grandeur marks the scene." 

Goldsmith's "Traveller" 

As " Apennine " may be said to signify " little Alp," these 
words of the poet well apply to Bergamo and her neighbour- 
ing scenery; for, though now a plain-town, the original 
little burg still perches high upon her wooded foot-hill, lift- 
ing above trees and battlements the mouldering roofs of her 
grand old Christian temples. She is, then, a bifold city, — 
with a strange, bifarious personality. To the modern Italian 
Bergamo means the recent, wide-spread boroughs on the 
plain, vomiting black smoke from scores of factories, hum- 
ming with industrial life ; to the traveller and the aesthetic it 
means that ancient picturesque hilltop, — on which Manzoni 
placed some scenes of the " Promessi Sposi " — and the won- 
drous productions of its great, bygone artists, which are 
amongst the most purely beautiful of all the schools. As 
Verona attained the supreme development of gorgeous colour- 
ing, so did Bergamo reach the nadir of ideal, perfect loveli- 
ness. At her name there rise before us a crowd of painted 
forms of such ineffable beauty, that they could come only 
from the opened vault of paradise, with a burst of celestial 
music. To three sublime painters this glory of Bergamo 

X 



2 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

IS due, — Jacopo Palma, " il Vecchio," Lorenzo Lotto, and 
Andrea Previtali.^ 

Bergamo, though strictly a Lombard town, both in situa- 
tion and affiliation, was the fourth of the subject Venetian 
cities that sat at the foot of the Alps, curiously equidistant 
from each other, along the northern edge of the plain. As 
Brescia lies midway between Lakes Garda and Iseo, so Ber- 
gamo, farther to the northwest, sits midway between Lakes 
Iseo and Como, just at the converging mouths of two charm- 
ing Alpine valleys, — the Val Seriana and Val Brembana. 
At the head of the latter its highway from Bergamo crosses 
an easy pass to the spacious Valtellina, so long renowned for 
its wine; whose road in turn, by the famous Ortler Pass, 
reaches German lands. 

Two other routes from Bergamo, slightly longer but of 
more level grade, have also for many centuries led travellers 
to the Valtellina and the north; one up Lake Como on the 
west, to the end of the valley, the other by Lago d'Iseo to its 
eastern confines. By Lake Como and the Val Brembana, 
trade also crossed the Engadine, and the Spliigen Pass to 
Switzerland. So Bergamo was favourably situated of old; 
yet she seems never to have possessed then a population of the 
present size, — - about 50,boo. Her restriction to the narrow 
hilltop was a drawback to growth; and she was perhaps too 
near the metropolis of Milan, — which lies no farther to the 
southwest than Brescia does to the southeast. 

Bergamo was certainly too unimportant in Roman days 

1 Lotto, according to Corrado RiccI, was born at Venice ; but 
Palma, Prevltali, Cariani, Moroni, Girolamo da Santa Croce, Tal- 
pino, Bissolo and several other prominent masters, were all born 
either in Bergamo or in its environs; and after wandering away — 
mostly to Venice — to receive their artistic training, returned to 
combine their ideas in the brilliant school famed for "the purity 
of its traditions." 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 3 

to attract the attention of historians. We know that she 
was a Roman municipium, but few mentions of her descend 
to us from ancient annals ; — a fortunate people, indeed. 
About the nearest that she came to being embroiled in Im- 
perial troubles was on the occasion of the rebellion of Aure- 
olus, in 268, against the Emperor Gallienus; their decisive 
battle, which routed the insurgent, was fought only 13 miles 
away, at a bridge over the Adda, known ever since as Pons 
Aureoli — which has been corrupted into Pontlrolo. The 
Adda IS next the Adige in size, and surpasses the MIncIo in 
strategic Importance, being the outlet of Lake Como, and 
dividing the plain with an unfordable current; It formed the 
ultimate border of Venetian territory; and when Napoleon 
came to destroy the Republic, It was at another bridge over 
this stream that he fought a critical battle, — the battle of 
Lodi, — so critical, Indeed, that he was obliged, It is often 
said, to lead his troops In person, to gain the passage. I 
have often pondered over the different course that history 
would have taken, if the Conqueror had that hour fallen slain 
into the Adda. 

Among the saintly legends descending to us from Imperial 
times Is that of St. Grata, who about 300 " was the daughter 
of St. Lupo, Duke of Bergamo, and St. Adelaide, both of 
whom she converted to the faith. When St. Alexander, one 
of the Theban Legion, suffered martyrdom, she herself 
wrapped the head in fine linen and reverently buried his body. 
On the death of her father, St. Grata succeeded him, and 
governed her people well, setting them an example of good 
works. She built churches and hospitals, and did all in her 
power to further the spread of Christianity. She died at 
length in peace and prosperity." ^ — A singular story, both 

2E. A. Greene's "Saints and their Symbols." 



4 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

in its peaceful termination and In its idea of a woman ruling 
Roman Bergamo as a duchess. 

Roman peace and prosperity were soon ended, however; 
together with Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and so many other 
cities, Bergamo was destroyed by Attila; and it must have 
been a very thorough destruction, since it has left us prac- 
tically no fragments of the ancient buildings. But that 
Bergamo soon rose again, is shown by the fact that she be- 
came the capital of a Lombard duchy. In 894 she was 
conquered by Arnolfo of Germany, with Berengarlus; but 
this subjection lasted only a few years.^ In the 12th cen- 
tury, after the enjoyment of nearly three centuries of inde- 
pendence and democratic rule, she was drawn into the long 
struggle between Guelfs and Ghibellines. It was at Pon- 
tida, only a few miles from Bergamo, that her consuls in 
1167 met those of the other plain-towns to form the first 
Lombard League, and swore to struggle unitedly against 
the devastating power of Frederick Barbarossa ; — a conven- 
tion to which Italians always look back with emotion, as 
the first impulse towards a united Italy! 

That same year the federated cities accomplished the ex- 
traordinary task of rebuilding Milan, which Frederick had 
razed to the ground ; and the next year they erected the new 
town of Alessandria — named after their ally, Pope Alex- 
ander III — as a fortress to contest the Emperor's southern 
trips. The Bergamasques fought famously beside their 
brethren, and became prominent also in the renewal of the 
League against Frederick^II, a half century later; but their 
city, probably from its lofty location, seems to have escaped 
the sieges and captures which visited Brescia. Although they 
thus freed themselves from Imperial oppression. It was only 
to fall into the covetous hands of that very town which they 

3 Vide F. di Manzano's compilation of the " Annali di Friuili.*' 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 5 

had helped to raise — Milan : a strange end to all their 
sacrifices and labours. 

This change was accomplished at first by their own voli- 
tion, without their perceiving its significance: the Delia 
Torre had become the supreme authority in Milan, by reason 
of leading the city's troops in the warfare against Frederick 
II ; and Bergamo, Lodi, Novara, Como, as well as a number 
of other neighbouring Guelf towns, deemed it wise to entrust 
to those leaders, about 1263, the command of their own 
forces, and to obtain their protection by electing them sov- 
ereign lords. " Thus began to be formed among the Lom- 
bard republics, without their suspecting that they divested 
themselves of their liberty, the powerful state which a cen- 
tury and a half later became the duchy of Milan. But the 
Pope, jealous of the house of Delia Torre, appointed Arch- 
bishop of Milan, Otho Visconti, whose family, powerful on 
the borders of the Lago Maggiore, then shared the exile 
of the nobles and Ghibellines." * 

When Bergamo saw herself pass from the hands of the 
Delia Torre to those of Otho, without her own consent or 
opinion being asked, she realised what she had done, too late. 
She was so far west as to have escaped the clutches of Ezze- 
lino da Romano, and be safe from those of the Delia Carrara 
or Delia Scala; but she paid for it by the tyranny of the 
Visconti. 

Up to this time the Bergamasques had been violent Guelfs, 
— so much so, that the story is related that one citizen who 
discovered his guests to be Ghibellines, by the way they sliced 
their garlic, violated the sacred laws of hospitality and killed 
them on the spot. " Ghibellines cut fruit at table cross- 
wise, Guelfs straight down. — Ghibellines drank out of 
smooth, and Guelfs out of chased goblets. Ghibellines wore 

* Symonds' " Age of the Despots," 



6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

white, and Guelfs, red roses. Yawning, passing in the street, 
throwing dice, gestures in speaking or swearing, were used 
as pretexts for distinguishing the one half of Italy from the 
other." *^ With partisanship reduced to such intensity. It 
can be conceived how the Bergamasques must have suffered 
on being transferred to the Ghibelline rule of the Visconti, 
subjected to Ghibelline nobles, banners, and emblems, and 
forced to subdue, conceal, and alter their own opinions. 
But the transition was duly accomplished; Bergamo became 
Ghibelline, and fought under the Visconti standard, to force 
other cities to the same yoke. 

After Otho Visconti, Archbishop of Milan, had in 1277 
suddenly seized and imprisoned the Delia Torre, his sole 
authority was recognised without trouble. Later he asso- 
ciated with him In the government his nephew Matteo, 
obtained from the Emperor the appointment of them both 
as Imperial Vicars, and secured the people's acceptance of 
Matteo as his heir. Both of these were very strong men, 
and Matteo became " the model of a prudent Italian despot. 
— He ruled his states by force of character, craft, and In- 
sight, more than by violence or cruelty." ^ His successors 
followed his example. From 1302 to 13 10 he was tem- 
porarily ousted by the Delia Torre and the Guelfs; but 
with the advent of Emperor Henry VII In the latter year, 
his welcome by the Delia Torre, and his attempt to extort 
money from the Milanese, — the people rose, expelled Em- 
peror and Delia Torre together, and recalled the Visconti. 

Matteo's son Galeazzo succeeded him as despot In 1322, 
and Galeazzo's son Azzo followed, who subjugated ten 
neighbouring cities. Including Brescia, and left a large king- 
dom, at his death In 1339, to Lucchino, another son of Mat- 

4a Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 
^ Idem, 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 7 

teo. Lucchino secured possession of Parma and Pisa also; 
and was soon succeeded by his brother Giovanni. " The 
Visconti now took the place of the Delia Scala as by far the 
most powerful of all the houses of the Lombard plain. Gio- 
vanni held the lordship of sixteen flourishing Italian 
towns," ® — including Bergamo, Crema and Cremona. He 
was Archbishop of Milan as well as temporal ruler, — " the 
friend of Petrarch, and one of the most notable characters 
of the 14th century." '' Upon his death the huge domains 
were for a time divided, between the three sons of his 
brother Stefano : Bernabo received Brescia and the three cities 
last mentioned, Matteo the southern towns, and Galeazzo 
the western, while Genoa and Milan were to be ruled jointly. 
But the territories were soon reunited, by the master political 
craftsman of the trecento^ the ablest of all the Visconti, the 
greatest of all Italian despots, — Gian Galeazzo. 

Matteo was assassinated by his brothers; Galeazzo died; 
Gian Galeazzo, as his only son, succeeded him in 1378 in 
possession of the western towns, and, by long deceiving his 
uncle Barnabo with a mask of timidity, finally induced the 
latter, in 1385, to come out of Milan with his sons, and 
greet his nephew as the latter passed by with an escort of 
horsemen. It was a fatal error; for Gian Galeazzo with 
a word to his soldiers seized Barnabo and the sons, entered 
Milan, imprisoned them, and declared himself sole ruler of 
the Visconti domains. Then began his endless, far-reaching, 
secret schemings to make himself the master of all Italy, 
by any means discoverable, — treachery, murder, bribery, the 
sowing of dissension and suspicion, the deception of friends 
and foes alike, the hiring of condottieri to make wars, etc., — 
means which resulted in the steady addition to his state of 

6 Oscar Browning's " Guelfs and Ghibellines," 
■^ Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 



8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

one city after another, until it extended from the Alps 
to the Umbrian plain, from Friuli to Piedmont and 
Liguria. 

Gian Galeazzo was as limitlessly ambitious as Napoleon; 
his whole soul and being centred in empire alone; wine, 
women, music, the chase, hawking, riding, the play, amuse- 
ments of any kind, were all alike distasteful to him, — ^who, a 
physical coward, passed his whole time in manipulating fear- 
lessly the greatest captains and rulers of the age. " Pure 
intellect, in fact, had reached to perfect independence In this 
prince. — It was he who invented Bureaucracy, by creating a 
special class of paid clerks and secretaries of departments. 
By applying this mercantile machinery to the management 
of his vast dominions Gian Galeazzo raised his wealth enor- 
mously above that of his neighbours." ® He gathered by 
taxes and forced *' loans " some 2,000,000 florins per year, — 
more than even the income of the French King. " False 
and pitiless, he joined to Immeasurable ambition a genius for 
enterprise, and to Immovable constancy a personal timidity 
which he did not endeavour to conceal. The least unex- 
pected motion near him threw him Into a paroxysm of nerv- 
ous terror. No prince employed so many soldiers to guard 
his palace." ® And It is doubtful if any prince ever had so 
many deeds of blood and horror to damn his soul. He 
never went to his end, nor acquired a city, by direct means, 
or by warfare, if it were attainable by poison, treachery, or 
the stiletto. Except for his deportment, he was the arche- 
type and incarnation of MachiavelH's ideal prince. ^° 

" The systematic plans conceived by Gian Galeazzo for 
the enslavement of Italy — are scarcely more extraordinary 

8 Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 
® Sismondi's " Italian Republics." 
i<^ MachiavelH's " De Principatibus." 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 9 

than the sudden dissolution of his dukedom at his death.*' ^°* 
When Florence awaited in dread the closing of the net, 
ever more closely drawn about her, when Venice watched 
with dismay the approaching loss of her mainland territories, 
when papal Rome trembled at the giant hand already reach- 
ing from Perugia and Siena, when Naples shuddered at her 
advancing doom, that would complete the Viper's consolida- 
tion of Italy, — suddenly, at only 42 years of age, the master 
tyrant died of the plague ; and they were freed. His domin- 
ions by his will were equally divided between the two legiti- 
mate infant sons, for whom the widowed Duchess Catherine 
was appointed guardian ; Giovanni Maria was to have Milan, 
and half the subject cities, including Brescia and Bergamo, — 
Filippo Maria, the other half, with Pavia for his capital. 
But — the renowned captains of adventure whom Gian 
Galeazzo had trained and held in leash, at the head of the 
forces which he had helped them gather, instantly disregarded 
this will and acted for themselves ; while in those cities which 
they did not seize, the old local tyrants bobbed up again. 

In Bergamo the noble families of the Suardi and Colleoni 
made themselves masters of the town; but soon, aware of 
their isolated weakness, sold it to Pandolfo Malatesta, the 
condottierej who with his troops had grasped Brescia in 
the turmoil. Francesco della Carrara took Verona. The 
Duchess Catherine now made the error of calling the Vene- 
tians to her aid, — who expelled the Carrara from Verona, 
Vicenza and Padua, but kept the spoil for their own. Cath- 
erine was soon poisoned, and Giovanni Maria was murdered 
at Milan, where he had been indulging in the most inhuman 
atrocities ever known; then Filippo Maria, likewise a cruel 
degenerate but more crafty and ambitious, proceeded step by 
step to recover his father's dominions, by his father's methods, 

loaSymonds' "Age of the Despots." 



lo LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

He was a vile, hideous, cowardly creature, who hid himself 
from all men in secret chambers, and even constructed canals 
with high walls by which to pass unperceived from palace to 
palace; but he had inherited his father's power of using 
abler men. He discovered Carmagnola, made him captain 
of his armies, and the latter between 141 2 and 1422 succes- 
sively dislodged the swarm of lesser tyrants, — Including 
Malatesta from Bergamo and Brescia, — and so recovered 
most of the Visconti territories. Then Filippo renewed his 
father's designs upon Italy, and attacked the more southerly 
states with Francesco Sforza the elder as his general, — who 
had once, — runs the story, — been a woodchopper. When 
Sforza was killed, his great son of the same name succeeded 
him. Carmagnola had been so brilliantly successful that the 
mean spirit of Filippo now was jealous, and disgraced him. 

It was Filippo's fatal error. Carmagnola fled to Venice, 
induced the Republic to yield to the entreaties of Florence 
to form a league against Milan, and in 1426 led a powerful 
Venetian army to victory over the Duke. Bergamo was one 
of the fruits of the campaign, and, with her surrounding 
lands, became from that time a happy and prosperous Vene- 
tian subject. Carmagnola drove the Milanese back on every 
side; Sforza revolted against the Duke and took for awhile 
the other side, — bought over by the Florentines. Carmagnola 
had such great success that he became too independent and 
indolent for the Venetian Council of Ten, who finally sus- 
pected him of treasonable correspondence with Filippo, exe- 
cuted him, and placed Gattamelata In charge of their forces. 
The condottiere, Niccolo Picclnino of Perugia, led the Milan- 
ese in the ensuing campaign, with much ability, but small 
success. 

In 1442 Sforza was reattached to Duke Filippo by suc- 
ceeding In the marriage which he demanded with the lat- 



BERGAMO THE LOWER ii 

ter's only child, Bianca. Fllippo with his aid continued the 
war against Florence and Venice until the year 1447, when 
he died, — the last of the Visconti. The Milanese set up a 
republic; but Sforza, by a long series of deceitful manoeuvres 
— leagues, desertions, treacheries, warfare — succeeded in 
1450 in violently imposing himself upon the Milanese as 
their duke, through the alleged claim of his wife to the 
throne. The crown thus acquired little benefited his family; 
it brought them misery and destruction, visited Lombardy 
with calamities, and proved the undoing of Italy. By dis- 
appointing the claim of the French Due d'Orleans, after- 
wards Louis XII, whose mother had been the sister of 
Filippo, it led to the French invasion of 1499, which was the 
beginning of the new foreign oppression. 

On Sforza's death in 1466, five of his descendants rapidly 
succeeded to his throne: Galeazzo, the eldest son, who was 
assassinated for his horrible atrocities by three heroes in 
1476; Gian Galeazzo, the latter's infant son, who died 
early, — it was supposed, of poison, by Galeazzo's brother, 
Lodovico; Lodovico himself, surnamed II Moro, the ablest 
and best of the Sforza line, — and his two sons after him. 
Lodovico ruled from Galeazzo's death until 1499, — first as 
regent for his feeble nephew, of whose death modern criti- 
cism now absolves him, then in his own name. He married 
the fascinating Beatrice D'Este, held a brilliant court, enter- 
tained and visited on a magnificent scale, and profusely 
encouraged art, in all its branches. For the last sixteen years 
of his reign he kept the great Leonardo da Vinci with him, 
who instituted an Academy of Art, and conducted his remark- 
able school of painting, that became the representative of 
Milan. 

In 1494 Lodovico unwisely called the French into Italy, 
under Charles VIII, to aid him against his enemies; and in 



12 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

1499 they returned under Louis XII, In pursuance of the 
latter's claim upon the Duchy, — occupied Milan, and im- 
prisoned Lodovico at Loches; where he died miserably, after 
several years in a dark dungeon. So fell the doomed Sforza 
dynasty, after only three rulers, leaving their country In the 
hated hands of foreigners. There were two short restora- 
tions, — Lodovico's son Maximilian, 15 12—15, and his brother 
Francesco II, 1521-35; but the unfortunate Milanese terri- 
tory after Lodovico's fall continued to be the scene of con- 
stant warfare between the French, the Germans, the Swiss, 
and finally the Spaniards — who eventually emerged su- 
preme in 1530, when Charles V received from the Pope the 
Iron crown of Lombardy. 

It was from the locally illustrious family of the Colleoni 
that the renowned condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni came, 
who fought brilliantly for Venice In the wars against Filippo 
Visconti. More uniformly faithful than Carmagnola, more 
successful than Gattamelata, by the time that he was old 
enough to retire he had gathered a vast fortune, which he 
used in wide-spread charities, and for the maintenance of 
palaces In Bergamo and castles in the neighbouring country- 
side ; and In these, surrounded by a throng of old companions 
of the sword, attended by a host of servitors, he held a 
brilliant court for many years. At his death It was found that 
he had bequeathed most of his riches to the Serene Republic, 
— an absolutely unique occurrence, — which came to Venice 
just when she was In the direst need of money, distressed 
and menaced by the victorious Turks. 

In heartfelt gratitude the Republic erected to her bene- 
factor that glorious equestrian statue In bronze, by the hand 
of the great Verocchio of Florence, which stands before the 
church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, familiar to all travellers; 
thus conferring upon the captain a reward of Immortality, 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 13 

from the genius of the sculptor, which he might never other- 
wise have had. But furthermore — which is not so gen- 
erally known — he left behind him other monuments in his 
city of Bergamo: the extraordinary Cappella Colleoni_, that 
he commenced in his lifetime, his elaborate sculptured tomb 
within it, erected by his heirs, and the orphan asylum of the 
" Luogo Pio Colleoni," to which he devoted his beautifully 
frescoed palace ; — altogether constituting a good part of the 
old town's principal sights. 

Bergamo, and her territory as far as the Adda, remained 
Venetian from her seizure by Carmagnola in 1428, thus es- 
caping the odious tyranny of the Sforzas, which was fastened 
upon the rest of the Visconti domains. She sank gladly into 
a restful, quiet prosperity, isolated upon her hilltop ; and gave 
herself to trade, and the development of that art which has 
become her crown of glory. Neither the times of Napoleon 
nor the Risorgtmento roused her sufficiently to play any lead- 
ing part, — although she took her due share — and only the 
recent advent of the manufacturing era waked her business- 
sense, to spread a new city upon the plain. 

Prior to the Venetian era Bergamo seems to have par- 
ticipated very little in the Renaissance of art, in any of its 
branches, and to have produced only two painters worth 
mentioning, — the brothers Pietro and Pecino (or Paxino) 
da Nova, of whom the latter alone has left good works in the 
city. They evidently studied and followed the manner of 
Giotto, during the latter part of the trecento and early quat- 
trocento. After the annexation to Venice, also, no artistic 
impulse arrived, until the end of the quattrocento, when the 
fame of Gian Bellini drew a number of Bergamasques to his 
school; and they later returned to revivify their town. 
Among the first of these students were three born in the 
same year, 1480, who were therefore companions in Bellini's 



14 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

studio, and together gazed in wonder at the superior progress 
made by two of their fellow-pupils, by three years their 
seniors, — Titian and Giorgione; the latter, however, being 
the earlier in development, was the genius who most attracted 
them, as he did Pordenone and so many others, — dazzling 
their minds and drawing them after him, by the fire of his 
soul. 

Those same three students in due time became three of 
the leading masters of Venetian painting, inferior only to 
Titian and Giorgione, and in some respects even their su- 
periors. The greatest of the three, in fact, attained a 
supreme height all his own, by following his own separate 
path after he had absorbed the ideas of all the others; this 
was Jacopo (or Giacomo) Palma, called "II Vecchio " to 
distinguish him from his grandnephew. " There is not a 
line or pencil-stroke in his works that does not divulge the 
spirit of one who may claim in everything to have been orig- 
inal. From the borders of Piedmont on the west to the 
Gulf of Trieste on the east, — there is not a city of any pre- 
tensions that did not feel the influence of Palmesque art." ^^ 
He was not strictly a native Bergamasque, having been born 
in the adjacent village of Serina; nor did he return to Ber- 
gamo to dwell, living mostly in Venice, and paying but an 
occasional visit to the little city where he was first edu- 
cated. Yet Bergamo claims him as her own, and has shone 
reflected in his glory. 

The second of the trio proved also a genius of the very 
^rst rank, and, after being influenced by Giorgione and 
Palma, also followed his own diverging manner to his own 
supreme eminence, — the far and solitary height of pure, 
celestial beauty of line. Previtali to my mind attained in 
depicting the human form an ideality of conception, a re- 

^1 Crowe and Cavalcasalle. 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 15 

finement of modelling and expression, an unadulterated, 
ethereal loveliness, that mount nearer to the heavenly beings 
than any one else has climbed. His manner is permeated by 
some of the quaint restraint of the earlier artists. There is 
no dross nor superfluity in his serene compositions; they do 
not depend upon colour or action for their effects; gentle 
grace combined with lofty dignity and restful bliss, give to his 
works an enchantment at once peculiar and profound. He 
was attached to his native city, returned to dwell there, and 
filled her palaces with those wonderful pictures which con- 
stitute her highest beauty. One cannot know Previtali's 
genius at Venice, Padua or Verona; one must go to Ber- 
gamo to achieve that felicity. And he who has not beheld 
her ideal Madonnas cannot conceive the height of pure love- 
liness to which human art may reach. ^^ 

The third of the trio, Lorenzo Lotto — who, though not a 
native of Bergamo, came there to dwell and labour — was 
somewhat inferior to the others in loftiness of conception, 
drawing, and expressionj'in spite of his continued friendship 
and association with them; but his works radiate a gorgeous- 
ness of colour, a wealth of grace and adornment, an opulence 
of beauty in composition and form, that are almost exotic 
in their exuberance, and belong to the most ornamental, 
striking products of the Venetian school. While Previtali 
struck a sweet, clear note. Lotto pounded a reverberating 

12 " Previtali," said Rio, " was the most distinguished pupil of Bel- 
lini, whom he soon surpassed in the charm of his colouring and 
the grace and delicacy of his contours. Whoever has seen his pro- 
ductions in his native city, where his happiest inspirations are to 
be found, — and has experienced the lively and delicious impres- 
sion which these works must necessarily produce on the mind of 
every spectator, — cannot fail to recognize the superiority of Pre- 
vitali, in certain respects, over the other disciples of Bellini." — 
Poetry of Christian Art. 



i6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

chord like the peal of an organ, that forced attention from 
every side. He, also, preferred Bergamo as a residence, and 
adorned her churches with what is doubtless the most splen- 
did, sustained series of brilliant large canvases to be found by 
one painter in any city of the smaller size. When I think 
of Bergamo, immediately the vision of those beautiful, richly 
glowing compositions seems to extend before me like a gor- 
geous procession. He had " inventive faculty and poetic 
fancy seldom surpassed. — It is not to be doubted that Lotto's 
masterpieces were honoured by the Bergamasques with a 
special veneration." ^^ 

A fourth Bergamasque painter, some ten years younger 
than this trio, who like them studied at Venice, and imitated 
Giorgione, and has also achieved much renown, — was Gio- 
vanni Busi, or Cariani, whose works are likewise remarkable 
for their exquisite loveliness. A goodly number of them re- 
main to embellish the city of his nativity.^* Of the same 
period was the rare Antonio Boselli, who came early to Ber- 
gamo from his native Val Brembana, — the same who painted 
that very beautiful Madonna and Saints on the first right- 
hand pillar of S. Antonio at Padua. His works are few, 
but mostly display the same grace and wealth of colour, — 
which show the influence of Lotto. Francesco da Santa 
Croce was another contemporary student of Gian Bellini. 

After this, the great generation, the city produced many 
lesser artists during the subsequent years of the cinquecento, 
including a few who painted an occasional first-class picture : 

12 Crowe and Cavalcasalle. 

1* " Cariani executed a great number of devotional pictures for 
his countrymen, — and, besides, many fresco paintings, both for 
the exterior and interior of various palaces. . . . Boselli adopted 
the manner of the artists of the fifteenth century, — aiming more at 
dignity than variety in his compositions." — Rio: The Poetry of 
Christian Art. 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 17. 

such as Enea Salmeggia, called Talpino, — who studied un- 
der the Campi at Cremona and Raphael's works at Rome, — 
Paola Cavagna, who was a pupil of Morone, and a 
dfsclple of Paolo Veronese, — and Francesco Zucco, who was 
taught by the same masters. 

There was another field of art, however, out of the beaten 
tracks and more seldom entered, which Bergamo also took 
up at the end of the quattrocento, and not only made a 
specialty, but developed to an unprecedented degree. This 
was tarsiatura, — as to which the city occupies a unique posi- 
tion of celebrity and superiority. Four men, who were the 
greatest inlaying artists of the Renaissance, — together with 
Fra Giovanni da Verona — carried on this delicate work at 
Bergamo from about 1500 to 1575. The first were the 
renowned brothers, Damiano and Stefano da Bergamo, who 
seem to have conducted a school in their native city, and 
also left their products far and wide over Italy, including 
the marvellous choir-doors of S. Pletro at Perugia. The 
chief of their pupils (as is surmised) was Glan Francesco 
Capodiferro, who, about 1520-50, "worked after the de- 
signs of Lotto, and instructed in the art his brother Pletro 
and his son Zanino, so that the city continued to be sup- 
plied with excellent artificers." ^^ 

The last great inlayer, probably a pupil of Capodiferro, 
was Giovanni Belli, who laboured also at Bergamo, exe- 
cuting from 1540 to 1547 the last of the wonderful tarsia 
with which they all adorned the principal church, S. Maria 
Maggiore. There, in the choir, their masterpieces repose, — a 
sight to be equalled nowhere else in the land. 

Bergamo was never distinguished in a literary way, but 
nevertheless produced two remarkable men: Gasparin da 
Bergamo (1370^1431), the renowned scholar and writer, 

15 Lanzi's " History of Painting." 



1 8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

who lectured at the universities of Padua and Milan, dis- 
covered the MS. of Cicero's " De Oratore," and " had the 
good fortune — to restore the text of Quintilian by the help 
of the manuscript brought from St. Gall by Poggio, and 
another found in Italy by Leonard Aretin ; " ^^ secondly, Ber- 
nardo Tasso, the father of Torquato, w^ho vi^as born at Ber- 
gamo in 1493, " the son of Ruggero and Caterina de'Tassi, a 
noble Venetian lady." Deprived by death, at an early age, 
first of his parents and later of his uncle, the Bishop of 
Recanati, w^ho had educated him, — " he had just sufficient 
property to enable him to travel — and spend a life of 
leisure." ^^ So, strangely like his son after him, he became 
a v^^anderer through Italy, writing excellent sonnets much 
appreciated at the time, and which might have achieved 
more lasting renown, had they not been paled by his son's 
brighter genius. 

In still another branch of art Bergamo has distinguished 
herself; when the musical revival of the early part of the 
last century burst forth all over Italy, when Bellini's operas 
were delighting the Sicilians and Rossini's, the Romans, an- 
other giant of equal powers emerged from this little town 
of Lombardy to entrance the north. It was Gaetano Doni- 
zetti. And he has left an imperishable heritage to mankind 
in his delightful " Lucia di Lammermoor," and other op- 
eras. 

When I first went to Bergamo, it was in the early spring- 
time. I had been spending the winter in the golden sunshine 
of the Riviera; and, after repairing primarily to Milan, I set 
forth in the first warm days of April upon a long-planned 
pilgrimage that should carry me through all the glorious 
old towns of Lombardy, — visiting step by step those en- 

16 Hallam's " Literature of Europe." 

1^ Henry Stebbing's " Lives of the Italian Poets." 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 19 

chanting, historic cities, convents and castles of the plain 
that have preserved for us such wonderful monuments from 
their heroic era of municipal independence, and from the 
Renaissance magnificence of the Visconti, the Sforzas, and 
the Gongaghi. It v^^as to be, in its inception, a circular tour 
around Milan, — the hub of Lombardy from which all routes 
radiate. Commencing therefore with Bergamo on the north- 
east, my design was to swing in one great curve about 
the capital, until, reaching at last Lodi and Crema upon the 
east, I should depart from the circle upon a final tangent to 
Cremona and Mantua. 

Upon my arrival at the railway-station of Bergamo, I 
found it located considerably south of the city. A wide, 
modern avenue extended straightaway northwest for a mile 
and more, at whose end rose the steep, verdurous hillside of 
the old town, crowned by circling battlements, — the thou- 
sand crowded buildings within them raising a towered roof- 
line against the sky. Immediately to right and left the 
fields were mostly open, with lines of recent edifices upon the 
avenue only; but farther along, halfway to the hill, rose the 
extensive structures of the lower city. 

When the 'bus which I took reached this halfway place, I 
found another broad, modern street Intersecting the first 
at right angles, and a public garden of some size stretching 
beside it, in both directions. This was the Piazza Vittorio. 
Emanuele, the central spot of the lower city; and the 
cross-street — known as Via Torquato Tasso in its north- 
eastern portion, and Via Venti Settembre in its southwestern 
— was the principal thoroughfare. 

The delightful spring day was rapidly growing dark as 
we turned Into it, and rolled southwestward between its 
brightly lit shops, to the Borgo S. Leonardo. Here was lo- 
cated the Albergo Italia, on the right side of the way, be- 



20 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

hind the customary driveway entering underneath the build- 
ings. I found it to be a very comfortable hostelry of the 
old style, v^^ith good food and cheap prices. 

The hilltop covered by the upper city is practically tri- 
angular in shape, w^ith one point to the south, opposite which 
lies the lower Borgo S. Leonardo; from the middle of its 
southeastern face descends a funicoIarCj to the beginning of 
the long avenue to the station; farther along, three borgoes 
in a row extend from the hill southeasterly, parallel with 
the avenue, — Pignolo, S. Antonio, and Palazzo ; finally 
comes the Borgo S. Caterina, opposite the triangle's eastern 
point. All these scattered, straggling, semi-detached bor- 
oughs represent the lower city, over two miles in length, — 
slightly in the shape of a Roman sword, of which S. Caterina 
is the hilt, the three in a row form the guard, S. Leonardo 
makes the broadened head, and the long stretch between the 
latter bodies constitutes the blade. This stretch is the prin- 
cipal thoroughfare with its accompanying buildings. 

The borgoes clearly were, in the Renaissance period, — 
when smaller and more separated, — individual villages, sub- 
urbs of the city on the hill; for their principal churches date 
back to that epoch, — the same that were filled with master- 
pieces by Lotto and his fellows. I discerned this as soon 
as I had started out in the morning, and taken a few steps 
southwestward to the end of Via Venti Settembre, — where 
opened the Piazza Pontida, the very centre of Borgo S. 
Leonardo. The church from which the borough was named 
faced the piazza on the east, with an old, crumbling, arched 
portico in a stuccoed renaissance fagade; and Its basilica- 
interior exhibited similar signs of age, with a fine quattro- 
cento painting on its last altar to right, — a Baptism in the 
miniature style, much gilded, and having a charming at- 
tendant angel. 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 21 

This piazza, judging by its stalls, was clearly used as the 
local fruit and vegetable market. Four streets met in it, 
from the cardinal points of the compass, of which that to 
the south. Via S. Bernardo, received the tramway coming 
from Milan; the western Via Broseta led shortly to the 
modern western gate of that name, and the northern Via 
S. Alessandro ascended to the southern point of the upper 
town. This last way I followed, to the church after which it 
was named, S. Alessandro in Colonna, which loomed quickly 
on the right with massive bulk. It had likewise a stuccoed 
renaissance fagade, before which stood an ancient Roman 
column, with fluted shaft and Corinthian capital ; this was the 
column at which S. Alessandro — so said the priests to the 
credulous people — had been martyred. He was the hero 
who had been a member of the renowned Theban Legion 
under the Emperor Maximin, and whose body was so ten- 
derly cared for by S. Grata; hence the church received its 
name and tutelary saint. 

Its interior was another aisleless basilica, vaulted in white 
stucco with gilded ribs, paved In handsome grey and white 
marbles, adorned upon the walls with three-quarter columns 
of red and blue-veined marble (?) rising between the deep 
altar-recesses to a gilded cornice; between the vaulting-ribs 
were frescoes in baroque frames, over the intersection of 
the transept rose a dome, and the large choir, slightly ele- 
vated and of even width with the nave, terminated in the 
usual apse. O^ the left side of the nave stood a very 
handsome, modern, oak pulpit, carved with three splendid 
high-reliefs, — scenes from the life of S. Alessandro. In 
the left transept I saw a Brescian canvas, an Assumption 
by Romanino, which had, however, lost all its colours, and 
even its tone; amongst the dim, cold, dark-grey figures of 



22 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

huge size, only the Madonna remained distinct and fairly 
modelled. 

Behind the yellow and white marble railing of the choir 
stood two elegant, bronze candelabra of renaissance design, 
with seductive little angels attached. By the side of the 
third altar to right I discovered an excellent Last Supper, 
evidently by Leandro Bassano, of exceptional composition, — 
the thirteen being seated around a square table with its 
corner toward the observer, — and its dusk sparkling with 
strong light-effects from the single candle, whose rays create 
an effulgent glory about the Saviour's bea itiful head. The 
remainder of the good paintings were in the sacristy off 
the right transept, which was hung like a gallery; amongst 
its several dozen canvases was a fine Madonna crowned 
by puttij signed by the rare artist, Giov. Giacomo Gavasio da 
Poscanthe — the last a village near Bergamo — and dated 
15 1 2; also there were two interesting quattrocento panels 
of standing saints, and another anonymous, later work (per- 
haps a copy) representing in two pieces the lovely, expressive 
heads of a Madonna and announcing angel. 

L returned past the four- and five-storied, modern-looking, 
stuccoed buildings and shops of Via Venti Settembre, to 
Piazza Vitt. Emanuele, 600 yards distant, stretching along 
the avenue's south side in both directions from the Viale 
della Stazione. The latter entered the piazza from the 
southeast through an ornamental gateway, composed of two 
square buildings surrounded by lofty arcades; beyond them 
loomed a large, domed church, with an imposing portal of 
columns and pilasters, its drum encircled by other col- 
umns, and its dome topped by a statue of the crowned 
Madonna; and shortly to west of the Viale, amidst the 
lawns and shrubbery, stood a marble figure of Vittorio 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 23 

Emanuele II, upon a high, grey granite pedestal guarded 
by marble lions. 

To the east of the Viale the majestic form of the Teatro 
Donizetti terminated the gardens, a modern structure much 
in the style of the Paris opera-house; it was built of rough 
grey granite below and pink stucco above, the latter being 
shaped into columned window-frames, and larger half-col- 
umns supporting a rich frieze and cornice; of the elegant 
windows the three central were recessed, those at the ends 
thrown forward in pavilions; while in all the spandrels of 
their arches reclined moulded figures, and a wealth of carving 
was simulated upon caps, mouldings, and entablature. If 
it were real stonework it would be admirable; as it is, it 
is very decorative. 

This operatic palace, to which the Bergamasques have 
given the name of their great composer, and where they reg- 
ularly enjoy his works, — besides the general scope of music, 
— is as splendid a monument to his memory as could be 
wished; nevertheless upon its farther side, in the center of 
a rectangular green space called Piazza Donizetti, there 
stands amidst shrubs and flowers another memorial, but re- 
cently erected; and, to my pleasure, I found it had one of 
the striking, new, unconventional designs with which Italian 
genius has lately startled and delighted the world. Upon 
a high square base, approached by double steps in front, 
was a semicircular marble bench, on which near the left 
end sat Donizetti, pencil and score in hand, listening with 
an inspired air, — a most lifelike, impressive figure ; before 
him in the centre stood the beautiful form of the Muse, 
picking from her lyre, with upturned eyes, the melody which 
which was passing to the entranced composer. Altogether 
a most graceful and deeply significant group ; — how very far 



24 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ahead of those stiff, old, conventional, unmeaning statues 
with which we have been so long afflicted! Francesco 
Jerace was the talented artist. 

Next to this again, still upon the south side of the street, 
rises the large Municipio, — a plain, three-storied, modern 
building, entirely of stucco, painted yellow, with some dark 
grey, renaissance trimmings; and beside it looms the still 
larger Prefettura, again of modern stucco-work, but more 
elegant in design, — its central portion having a monumental 
loggia upon the upper stories, with six Corinthian columns, 
the corner pavilions adorned with Corinthian pilasters cov- 
ered with arabesques, the top row of windows encased in 
elaborate frames, and surmounted by an elegant frieze and 
cornice. All is painted a sort of terracotta colour ; and 
within the loggia are visible six panels of reliefs, in large 
scenes. I entered the main portal, finding a handsome, 
colonnaded court, agreeably backed by a mass of greenery. 
It is a constant wonder what grand civic buildings these 
little Italian cities still put up, large enough for a New 
World city of many times their size. 

On the opposite side of the street there extended from 
the corner of the Viale for a couple of hundred yards east- 
ward, a line of queer temporary structures, but two stories 
high, some of wood, others of masonry, occupied by shops and 
cafes; behind them, as I found upon walking around, there 
stretched a spacious square field, in good part covered with 
long rows of wooden sheds, closed and boarded up. This 
was the site of the long celebrated " Fiera di Sant'Alessan- 
dro," one of the famous municipal fairs come down to us 
from the Middle Ages,- — held annually from the middle 
of August to the middle of September. Of late, however, it 
has declined until little is left of its former splendour; and 
consequently the strip of ground next the street has been 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 25 

yielded up to shop-purposes. On the west side, along the 
Viale, the field had not yet been built upon; and I walked 
over there through the deserted, mouldering buildings of 
the fair, whose forlornness was accentuated by the pools of 
water left by the last night's rain in the unpaved alleys. 
Some of the buildings were clearly used for exhibiting 
horses, others for poultry, farm-products, and manufactures 
of every sort, others still for shows, bars and entertainments 
of many kinds ; while the wide open space beyond was doubt- 
less in fair-time covered with cattle, and a host of booths of 
more temporary construction. It was of this place, then, 
that Lady Montague wrote to the Countess of Bute, from 
Louvere, on Aug. 22, 1749: "We are all very quiet here, 
all the beau monde being hurried away to the fair at Ber- 
gamo, which is esteemed the best in Italy after that of Sene- 
gallia." 

By the Viale, an unobstructed view of the upper city drove 
these thoughts from my head. It was a vast castle in the 
air, suspended there aloft like a mirage, with mighty walls and 
towers; straight ahead at the end of the avenue, half a mile 
distant, mounted the steep green hillside to a considerable 
height, its verdure unbroken by sign of building till near 
the summit, where the heavy, grey, stone' wall of mediaeval 
days swept unbrokenly across, topped by a dense line of 
horse-chestnut trees several rows deep. Over these rose, 
upon a higher ground within, the four- and five-storied walls 
of aged white buildings, one tier above another, piling 
thickly and confusedly over the whole hilltop, to an uneven 
skyline of domes and towers. There was the soaring dome 
of the Cathedral — it could be no other ; and the shapely 
renaissance belfries alternated with grim, truncated, medi- 
aeval keeps. The Duomo appeared well to the left; and 
still farther at that end, in the front line of edifices, loomed 



26 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

several huge, modern-looking structures of Imposing propor- 
tions and designs, — one faced with mighty columns, like 
a temple of the Romans.^^ 

This fortified isolation in bygone times must have been 
as severe as that of any hill-town of the Apennines. No 
wonder that the mediaeval Bergamasques spoke a dialect of 
renowned singularity, quite different from their neighbours 
of the plain. Castigllone's anecdote of the Renaissance court 
of Urbino shows how diverse it then was : " A Berga- 
masque peasant had just entered the service of a nobleman. 
The princesses were told that there had arrived a retainer 
of Cardinal Borgia who was a fine musician, a dancer, and 
a great oddity. They fetched him in, welcomed him, sat 
him down among them, and lionised him with great respect. 
Unhappily the good man spoke an undescrlbable jargon. 
The author of the trick made the princesses believe that he 
was shamming the Lombard peasant for them. The scene 
lasted a rather long time, while those in the secret were split- 
ting their sides." ^^ 

Turning back eastward upon Via Torquato Tasso, and 
reaching the end of the line of temporary shops along the 
front of the fair-grounds, a classical temple of the Christian 
faith rose before me just opposite the Munlclpio, — the 
grandest church of the lower city, SS. Bartolomeo e Stefano. 
Its light grey fagade stood upon a high flight of steps, and 
was richly adorned with half-columns and pilasters, in two 
divisions; it had an entrance-porch upon detached columns, 
crowned by two statues, with a modern painting in its lunette 

1^ " And Bergamo ! " wrote George Meredith. " You know the ter- 
races of Bergamo! Aren't they like a morning sky? Dying there 
is not death ; it's flying into the dawn." — Meredith's " Vittoria." 

20 R. de Maulde la Claviere's " The Women of the Renaissance," 
(translated) Book IH, 



BERGAMO THE LOWER , 27 

of the Madonna and saints, in an imitation of golden mo- 
saic. Other statues occupied the angles; and beside the 
central window overhead, were two panels of reliefs repre- 
senting the martyrdoms of Saints Bartholomew and Stephen, 
Entering, I found a spacious basilica of strange colour-effect, 
due to the old frescoes spread all over the vaulted roof and 
altar-recesses, as well as to the huge pilasters of imitation- 
marble, painted red and purple in chaotic waves, upon white 
ground ; centering this sea of colour was an enormous picture 
in the middle of the vaulting, showing Christ and the Ma- 
donna suspended aloft in glory, with a swelling crowd of 
saints. 

Behind the high-altar glowed the treasure of the place, 
Lotto's celebrated masterpiece of the Madonna enthroned 
between saints (dated 1516). — "As early as 1513, Ales- 
sandro Martinengo — opened a regular competition amongst 
the artists of the state for an altarpiece in S. Stefano of 
Bergamo. His choice fell upon Lotto, who was then stay- 
ing in the city, and it was agreed that the price should be 
500 ducats. After three years of interrupted labour the 
altarpiece was finished, and carried amidst universal rejoic- 
ing to the high-altar of the church. The subject here is 
an adoration of the Madonna. She sits in a rotunda richly 
decorated with mosaics, and open to the sky, her right hand 
poised on the head of St. Dominic. — To the right and left 
stand several saints. — ^We can still understand the enthusi- 
asm which it caused in the mind of the scribe who wrote 
on a tablet beneath the predella, that Martinengo, who 
ordered it, was worthy of the title * Great,' and Lotto was 
a painter more divine than human." ^^ 

21 Crowe and Cavalcasalle. — " Lotto " — says Corrado Ricci — > 
" owed his delightful individuality to the brilliancy of his vibrating 
colour. We can never weary of the felicitious intensity of expres- 



28 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

It Is a large canvas, about lox 15 feet, with llfesize figures 
so admirably composed and individually pleasing, above all 
in such a splendid harmony of opulent, glov^^Ing colours, as 
to compel at the first glance the tribute of v^ronder and de- 
light. Very lovely Indeed is the throned Madonna, with 
a beatific expression, and a gentle, blessing movement of the 
hand ; back of her stretches an architectural recess, with 
open colonnades vanishing into gloom, and above her the 
rotunda closes to a circular railed opening, from which 
handsome angels look down. These forms are In shades of 
golden brown, the flying angels who place the crown upon 
the Virgin's head are In tints of celestial blue, and through 
the whole composition this charming theme continues, of 
browns and blues, softly varied and intermingled. It Is 
superlatively decorative ; but feeling Is there also, — the ex- 
pression of heavenly calm and joy. Ridolfi calls it " won- 
derful " ; and Lanzl says that Lotto " bestows upon the 
Virgin and the infant Jesus such finely diversified and 
contrasted emotions, that they seem as if conversing with 
the holy bystanders, the one on the right and the other on 
the left hand." ^2 

The choir-stalls here proved also worthy of close attention, 
having backs decorated by Bergamo's renowned school of 
tarsiatura. They were by Fra Damlano himself, and very 
remarkable for the many human figures introduced in the 
foreground, with much lifelikeness and grace, — a thing 

sion which breathes the sweet, kindly and devout spirit of the art- 
ist. Given to prayer and the solitude of the cloister, his work is 
confined to pictures of sacred subjects, instinct with melancholy. He 
has left us no records, of the dissipated, gay, or luxurious life of 
his fellow citizens." {Art in Northern Italy.) How diflFerent was 
he in this respect from his contemporary Paolo Veronese, who had 
the same power of voluptuous modelling and colours. 
22 Lanzi's " History of Painting," Vol. III. 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 29 

hardly ever essayed by any inlayer. The action, too, was 
eloquent. Especially beautiful was the scene of Christ and 
the woman at the well; and exceptionally fine the figures 
in the martyrdoms of Saints Stephen and Bartholomew. 

That afternoon I finished with the lower town, by in- 
specting its three remaining important churches, farther to 
the east. The first and chief of them was S. Spirito, which 
is also located upon Via Torquato Tasso, a quarter of a mile 
beyond S. Bartolomeo, — on the avenue's south side, just 
where it ends in the Via Pignolo ; the latter being the main 
thoroughfare of the three borgoes in a row, extending down 
their middle from northwest to southeast. S. Spirito thus 
stands in the very centre of the second borgo of the three, 
S. Antonio, at the southwestern angle of the two streets. 

Its external walls are of rough stones and unattractive; 
all its glory is inside, in the graceful renaissance basilica 
without aisles or transept, of a general soft grey tint, which 
forms an ideal setting for the grand array of magnificent 
canvases that flash and glow from every altar with dazzling 
hues. In truth this is one of the finest, smaller treasure- 
houses of northern Italy: here are three wonderful Prevl- 
tali's — including his conceded masterpiece, — a superb ex- 
ample of the elegant Borgognone, and another sumptuous 
Lotto. They stand over the arched and recessed side-altars, 
separated by handsome grey stone pillars, rising from heavy 
bases to the cornice ; and at the four corners of each recess 
stand smaller, three-quarter pillars, supporting Its individual 
cornice. The large choir, with no flanking chapels, is sim- 
ilarly adorned with grey stone pillars and pilasters. Though 
all this apparent stonework is probably naught but painted 
stucco, yet It is a very tasteful, pleasing edifice, of the unde- 
bauched period of the early Renaissance. 

Previtali's masterpiece I found immediately over the first 



30 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

altar to left, — an Apotheosis of St. John the Baptist, posed 
upon a stone block before some ruinous, dark, stone build- 
ings on each hand, between which is visible a far landscape of 
beautiful shades of brown and blue; while four other saints, 
also lifesize — Bartholomew, Joseph, Dominic and Nicholas 
of Bari — stand around him in richly coloured garments. 
The tone of old gold, the sombrous, dreamy atmosphere, the 
true perspective, all complement and set forth these natural, 
attractive figures, with their countenances of that pure, bliss- 
ful beauty and expressiveness which Previtali could so per- 
fectly portray. There Is naught of the vulgar, and no hint 
of earthly joys, in his holy faces. But the picture has been 
sadly injured by time and retouching, — the latter so ex- 
cessive as to lend it almost a modern sheen. 

Next It was the delicate work of the Milanese Borgo- 
gnone, Leonardo's pupil, who spent much time and did much 
painting in Bergamo ; — and who can help being captivated 
by the exquisite contours of that clever brush, which often 
give to his forms such supernal beauty! This pala is in five 
parts, in a highly carved and gilded, renaissance frame; a 
God the Father above, the Annunciation at Its sides, the 
Descent of the Holy Ghost In the large, central, arched 
compartment, and the coupled figures of Sts. Augustine and 
Francis on one hand, Sts. Jerome and John the Baptist on 
the other. The figures are all very true and graceful, St. 
Augustine being clad In a magnificent, gold-embroidered 
robe, those of the Annunciation being considerably the most 
attractive; but the large central tableau is the most effective, 
the Madonna being enthroned under an arched, coffered 
celling, surrounded by the kneeling and standing Apostles, 
all looking up with enraptured awe to the descending fiery 
Dove. This was once very highly coloured, with much gilt 
ornamentation upon the achltectural trimmings. 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 31 

Over the fifth altar to left was a pleasing Madonna be- 
tween two saints, with a very lovely angel at her feet read- 
ing a book, and tw^o fluttering cherubs holding a curtain 
over her head, — by the rare Sclplone da Lodi, of the Piazza 
school; a work of much excellence in nearly all respects, 
whose brightly tinted forms shone boldly from the dark 
tone and sombre background. Opposite it upon the right 
were Previtall's other paintings, joined in another gorgeous 
renaissance frame, of ten compartments; the five below, a 
Madonna and four saints, being by the master entirely, and 
the five above, a Resurrection and four saints, commenced by 
him but finished by his pupil Caversegno. All displayed 
his fine, rich, old gold tone, and a wealth of Venetian glow 
and colouring. 

Next them, finally, on the fourth altar to right, glittered 
Lotto's glorious canvas, in a splendour of hues paling all the 
ovhers : about the throned Madonna stood four saints to right 
and left; at her foot was a most enchanting little St. John 
playing with a lamb, pressing Its head lovingly to his cheek, 
and looking out with a happy expression of playfulness ; over- 
head extended a glory of bright clouds and distant angels, 
flying In every direction, yet surrounding the Holy Ghost 
in a semicircle, while a crown was held over the Virgin's 
head by two lovely cherubs. It Is a picture conveying the 
greatest pleasure, transporting the observer to Its heavenly, 
idyllic realm, affecting his senses with its exuberance of 
colours. " Sparkling as It were, with graces, we meet with 
a figure of St. John the Baptist, drawn as a child, — ex- 
pressing so natural and lively a joy, at once so simple and 
innocent, with a smile so beautiful, that we can hardly 
believe while we gaze upon it that Raffaele or Correggio 
could have gone beyond it. Such masterpieces as these, with 
others that are to be seen at Bergamo, — place him (Lotto) 



32 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

almost on a level with the first luminaries of the art." ^^ 
The second of the three churches lay halfway up Via 
Pignolo, on its eastern side, — the small, Gothic edifice of 
S. Bernardino; it was of painted stucco, with pointed win- 
dows, and a Gothic frieze along the gable. Inside was a 
low, short, aisleless nave with a wooden, painted roof, and 
six Gothic recesses for the side-altars, — all newly restored. 
Over the second altar to right stood its alleged Previtali, a 
picture of the Madonna seated in a high carved chair within 
a low, heavy-beamed chamber, St. Dominic to right and 
St. Jerome to left; traces remained of its once vivid colour- 
ing, but the forms and faces were so poorly drawn, almost 
grotesque, that they could not have been executed by that 
master-hand. If Previtali undertook the work (in 1523, it is 
said, two years before his death), certainly the execution 
must have been done by one or more of his pupils. 

Next this was a graceful quattrocento canvas, of three 
lifesize saints, possessing quaint, primitive, smoothly rounded 
features, and much gilded as to the emblems, ornaments and 
haloes. I asked the kindly parroco, who now came up, for 
the name of its author; he did not know, but would ascer- 
tain. Nothing would do but we must repair to his rooms, 
close by, where by investigating a certain record he found 
the painter's name, — Giov. Giacomo Gavasio da Poscanthe. 
The picture's excellence was explained. 

The high-altar-piece of S. Bernardino was another grand 
Lotto, which illumined the small precincts like a shaft from 
heaven. It represented the wide plain of Lombardy, brown 
and green, arched by bluest sky, laden with heavy summer 
air, — and the Madonna seated high, holding the Child erect 
upon her knee, with a dark, plush curtain held by angels and 
putti behind and above her head; St. John and three other 

23 Lanzi's " History of Painting," Vol. II. 



BERGAMO THE LOWER 33 

saints stood around, and at her foot sat another angel read- 
ing with bent back. Again the grace of the figures and group- 
ing was fairly voluptuous, and the colouring magnificent as a 
triumphant paean, centering in the lovely Virgin's scarlet robe. 
The glow of the tone was very warm, the personages were 
lifelike and yet ideal. " What strikes us most in the Ma- 
donna of S. Bernardino is the growing tendency to adopt 
Correggiesque form. The progress of Lotto is apparent, not 
only in the skilful balance and harmonious lines of a perfect 
pyramidal composition, but in the large amount of force he 
gives to colour and chiaroscuro." ^* 

The third church was near the northern end of Via Pig- 
nolo, where it strikes the Via Tommaso — running northeast 
to Borgo S. Caterina, — still upon the right side of the way. 
This was S. Alessandro della Croce, — to reach which I 
passed many old Renaissance palaces, on each hand, con- 
taining handsome courtyards. The ruinous fagade of the 
church was covered with scaffolding, for renovation. In- 
side I found a renaissance basilica, with transepts, the altars 
in deep recesses, three per side, the floor of handsome red, 
white and grey marbles, the vaulting stuccoed and ribbed, 
and a wealth of gilding of recent date upon mouldings, caps 
and cornices. 

Over the main entrance hung a large Moretto, a Coro- 
nation of the Virgin in his pearly tone and finish, of exceed- 
ing beauty, — the Father and Son holding a crown above 
the Madonna's head, seated upon clouds, with many 
child-angels flying around. Under the second altar to right 
I observed a marble relief of the Last Supper by Fantone, 
with some very good figures and quite realistic. A canvas 
by Palma Giovane, the Saviour with Sts. Roch and Sebastian, 
hung over the first altar next the ceiling. In the highly 

24 Crowe and Cavalcasalle. 



34 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

carved, modern, walnut pulpit were two pieces of excellent 
tarsia, by Don Luigi Salvi. Over the door to the sacristy 
was a very fine Assumption by Jacopo Bassano, well com- 
posed, executed and coloured, of much feeling and dramatic, 
suspended action. Within the sacristy appeared several good 
paintings: a risen Christ in clouds, by Lotto, a Crucifixion 
by Morone, another by Previtali, — containing charming 
figures of much lifelikeness, grace and sentiment, like all his 
small pieces, — a full-length form of S. Niccolo di Bari by 
Palma Vecchio, a panel of the Madonna with two infants 
in Palma's style, injured but still pleasing, another panel 
of the Madonna with two angels, by Gavasio da Poscanthe, 
very aged and interesting, with his customary gilding, and 
finally, a charming lunette of Christ crowning the Virgin — 
half-figures, surrounded by little angels — from the brush of 
Francesco da Santa Croce. 



CHAPTER II 

BERGAMO THE UPPER 

"The world from that Alpine shoulder 
Yearns toward the Lombard plain — 
The hearts that come, with rapture, 
The hearts that go, with pain." 

R. U. Johnson. 

It was nov/ time to visit the ancient city, beckoning from 
its storied hilltop; and the next morning I ascended by the 
funicolare from the end of the long avenue to the station. 
The cable-car mounted the steep hillside between vineyards, 
plunged into a tunnel beneath the battlements, and stopped 
at a small triangular piazza in the middle of the southeastern 
ridge. Tall old houses of five and six stories rose closely 
roundabout, with mouldering stuccoed walls; one narrow 
street led to right along the battlements — Via di Porta 
Dipinta — another led in the opposite direction, and a third. 
Via Gombito, ran straight ahead to the centre of the town. 
Upon a house-wall was a late quattrocento fresco of the 
Madonna, under a canopy, endowed with protruding eye- 
balls and a puckered mouth, but of fair, well-moulded skin; 
and a little angel sat at her feet, playing a guitar. 

I followed the Via Gombito, dark and confined between 
similar tall old dwellings, with tiny shops in the ground 
floors. Here was none of the desertedness often found to- 
day in Italian hill-towns; throngs of people passed busily 
to and fro, and gossiped from doorways ; — it was the main 
thoroughfare of the upper city. A lofty square tower was 
noticeable on the left, built of huge stone blocks, more like Ro- 

35 



36 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

man workmanship than mediaeval. Opposite it to the right 
opened another small piazza, in which I was directed to the 
old palace of Bart. Colleoni which he devised for an orphan 
asylum, now therefore known as the " Luogo Pio Colleoni," 
— or Colleoni's Pious Place. The building was plain 
enough externally; but inside, upon the ground floor, lay 
one of the most delightful early renaissance rooms I have 
ever seen, frescoed from end to end, upon every wall and ceil- 
ing, in a manner and with an effect quite enchanting. 

It w^as of Gothic design, but the decoration was thor- 
oughly Renaissance in its joyous richness, reminding me of 
some of the halls of the Reggia at Mantua. The colours 
were faded out, the landscapes blurred, the plaster spotted 
with damp and fallen of¥ in many places ; yet what remained 
was still so picturesque and pleasing that I wondered at the 
thought of its primary brightness. Every wall, above a van- 
ished low wainscoting, was divided into several square com- 
partments, in each of which sat a throned lifesize divinity, 
of quattrocento quaintness in pose and contour, backed by 
a dimmed landscape of balanced trees; over each rose a 
pointed lunette, adorned with figures and designs; the span- 
drels between the latter curved gently forward to the ceil- 
ing, bearing half-length forms of saints in medallions, sur- 
rounded with putti and a wealth of imagery ; around the room 
above them ran a curving frieze, likewise composed of putti, 
medallions and designs, enclosing the central square of the 
ceiling, which was painted in imitation of coffered wood- 
work. All this winsome frescoing was the labour of 
Paxino da Nova, assisted — as some say — by a number of 
fellow-artists. There were also a few paintings of lesser 
worth, including a portrait of Colleoni himself upon his 
war-horse. 

Returning to the Via Gombito, there soon opened to the 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 37 

west a piazza so striking, so picturesque, that few of Its 
size can equal It as a picture of by-gone days. It was 
the Piazza Garibaldi (formerly Maggiore) the centre and 
heart of the upper city. Via Gombito here was lined with 
a handsome, white granite arcade, whose arches sprang 
from pilasters separated by Doric half-columns, — a renais- 
sance facing, finished to the height of one story only, except 
at the northern end where it rose two divisions higher ; these 
were adorned respectively with Ionic and Corinthian pilas- 
ters, and crowned by an open balustrade, with statues. 
This building was the so-called Palazzo Nuovo, designed 
by Scamozzi; and Indeed, though of the cinquecento, it was 
the newest thing about the square. From it the piazza 
stretched southwestward to the opposite Broletto, rising 
upon Its loggia of pointed stone arches, dark, grim and aged, 
— the very antithesis of the former. The loggia was three 
large arches wide, and somewhat deeper; In the upper story 
were two fine, triple, Gothic windows, — at the sides, recessed 
with tracery, — and at the centre was a broad ringhiera of 
Renaissance days, with marble frame and shafts, below a 
dark stone framework holding the recent Inscription, — " Bib- 
lloteca della Citta." 

To right of the Broletto opened another, rounded arch- 
way, leading to the rear, and then. In the very corner, 
there mounted a fascinating, old, outside stairway, with 
worn stone treads, and romanesque columns upholding Its 
tiled roof; while directly behind It soared the municipal 
tower far aloft, built of rough stone blocks, — to a two- 
storied belfrey of unframed arches. The buildings on the 
other sides were plain and stuccoed, although that upon the 
Broletto's left carried enormous stucco pilasters and heavy 
window-cornices. The pavement of the piazza was genu- 
inely old-Italian, of bricks laid edgeways with thin stripes 



38 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of white stone, like a diagonal checkerboard; and at Its 
centre rose Bergamo's handsome monument to Garibaldi, 
whose cloaked bronze figure stood upon a high marble pedes- 
tal, with small bronze lions at the angles of the base. 

How many ages were reflected In this old piazza, from 
the Romanesque epoch of Its tower and stairway, when the 
city was an Independent republic, arming against Barbarossa, 
to the Renaissance Palazzo Nuovo of Venetian quietude 
and art, and the modern whitewashed cafe-building upon the 
right, under whose awning the loungers of today sipped 
their syrups at little tables. Other loungers were gathered 
In groups in the shade of the loggia, and under Scamozzi's 
dazzling arcade; the sunlit pavement remained deserted, 
save for an occasional hurrying form. It was of just such 
an ancient, central piazza, storied in every stone, murmuring 
with gossip and business In Its shady arcades, that Robert 
Browning wrote lovingly, — 

** Had I but plenty of money, money enough and to spare, 

The house for me, no doubt, were a house in the city-square ; 

Ah, such a life, such a life, as one leads at the window there ! — 

Houses in four straight lines, not a single front awry; 

You watch who crosses and gossips, who saunters, who hurries by." ^ 

What a grand old structure was this Broletto, how simple 
yet how splendid, nobler than all the other buildings In Its 
balanced, graceful, gothic lines. " The lesson to be learnt 
from such a building — appears to be the expressive value 
of simplicity and regularity of parts carefully and con- 
structlonally treated; for there are no breaks nor buttresses 
in the design, and all Its elements are most simple, yet 
nevertheless most beautiful." ^ 

Before one of Its piers stood a marble statue; and on 

1 Browning's " Up at a Villa — Down in the City." 

2 Street's " Brick and Marble in the Middle Ages/' 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 39 

approaching nearer — for I had hitherto remained at Via 
Gombito, gazing at the general scene — I found it to rep- 
resent Torquato Tasso, clad in a Roman toga and laurel- 
crowned ; — a poor, baroque work, but significant of a 
proper civic spirit. Then, on turning my eyes from the 
statue to the loggia, sights flashed suddenly upon them 
through the shadowy archways that thrilled me with amazed 
delight, — that in an instant elevated the scene to a beauty 
and picturesqueness many- fold greater. It was like a sud- 
den vision of fairyland, glimpsed through the rents of a cloud. 
There, behind the dark arcades, shining in the sunlight of a 
hidden courtyard, rose a vast, old, gothic church, faced by 
a lofty red marble porch of wondrous delicacy and charm; 
beside it glistened like the sun itself a temple of white and 
gay-hued marbles, enriched with sculpture beyond the most 
fanciful dreams, — an unreal fantasy whose effect was height- 
ened by these partial vistas, which called for the imagination 
to piece them out; and again, to right of this, glittered a 
romanesque, octagonal temple, also of brightly coloured mar- 
bles and adorned profusely with sculpture, of an exquisite 
beauty that complemented the impression. The whole im- 
pression was indescribable: such a wealth of brilliancy and 
artistic splendour, poured through the dusky, pointed arch- 
ways of the old Broletto upon the wayfarer's unsuspecting 
eyes, — it illumined the ancient square with a sudden radi- 
ance whose like is seldom to be found. 

Yet I knew these buildings, by report, and understood 
now the reason of the late Mr. Street's artistic enthusiasm 
over this strange spot, — sharing his admiration for the archi- 
tectural effect so cleverly obtained. His view, however, 
was limited to the gothic edifices, — to that great church of 
S. Maria Maggiore and its marvellous porch, which he said 
were the earliest erections, and tp the s\4bse^uent Broletto, 



40 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

which the architect, " not fearing — to damage what has 
been done before, boldly throws across in front of them, 
but upon lofty open arches, through which glimpses just 
obtained of the beauties in store beyond, make the gazer 
even more delighted." My view included those further 
erections, of the Romanesque and the Renaissance eras, 
whose scintillating marbles rioted with the staid gothic. in 
such a brilliant opulence of hues and carvings. That next 
the porch was Colleonl's famous mortuary chapel, constructed 
about 1480-90 for his tomb and monument; that on the 
extreme right was the Baptistery, which until recent days had 
stood within the church. 

I started to traverse the loggia, between its heavy, round, 
monolithic columns, with doric caps, — quite varied from the 
external gothic piers, — but was obliged to stop a moment 
to consider its decorative points. Under the archway far- 
thest to right. In a round frame, hung a beautiful cinque- 
cento fresco, the Madonna with two infants, of a prom- 
inent blue colour in the Virgin's gown and the unclouded 
sky; though badly retouched. It was still full of charm and 
the joy of life. On the left wall, in an elaborate frame of 
black and white marble, hung a later, seicento relief, of the 
crowned Madonna and Child. The flagged floor also held 
a long, white marble strip, clearly representing the meridian, 
and still wet from the night's rain, upon which a file of boys 
were madly sliding with deafening shouts, as though it were 
a sheet of Ice. 

Emerging from the loggia, I stood In the narrow court- 
yard, feeling my attention drawn first and irresistibly to the 
glistening Cappella ColleonI; though of the least Importance 
In architectural merit, what eye but Mr. Street's could look 
away from a structure so Inconceivably gorgeous! It is a 
genuine composite of marble rainbows; so Intricate and 




r:->n&c-:. 



Ed. Alinari 



THE PORCH OF S. MARIA MAGGIORE, BERGAMO 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 41 

varied are its lines, that every successive literary traveller 
has resigned in despair any attempt at its description. Yet 
it is not a large building, and its main features are simply 
told: a round-arched, single doorway in a classic frame, two 
rectangular windows at the sides, in the most elaborate 
frames probably ever constructed, a rose window above, a 
delicate arcaded gallery beneath the cornice, an octagonal 
drum, and a lofty dome. And this tells nothing ; it can give 
no idea of the overwhelming mass of decoration that dazzles 
the conception. 

*' The Cappella Colleoni — that masterpiece of the sculptor- 
architects' craft, with its variegated marbles, — rosy and white 
and creamy yellow and jet-black — In patterns, bas-reliefs, 
pilasters, statuettes, encrusted on the fanciful domed shrine! 
Upon the fagade are mingled. In the true Renaissance spirit 
of genial acceptance, motives Christian and pagan, with 
supreme impartiality. Medallions of emperors and gods 
alternate with virtues, angels, and cupids in a maze of love- 
liest arabesque; and round the base of the building are told 
two stories, — the one of Adam from his creation to his fall, 
the other of Hercules and his labourers, — the spirit of 
Humanism, bent ever on harmonising the two great tradi- 
tions of the past. Of the workmanship little need be said, 
except that It Is wholly Lombard, distinguished from the 
similar work of Delia Querela at Bologna and Siena by a 
more Imperfect feeling for composition and a lack of monu- 
mental gravity, yet graceful, rich In motives, and Instinct 
with a certain wa5rward impromsatore-charm.'^ ^ Giovanni 
Antonio Amadeo, the most celebrated sculptor of the Milan- 
ese school, was this artist who painted and sang so divinely 
In marble, with so little care or comprehension of form and 
mass. 

3 J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 



42 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The adjacent Baptistery, though as fresh, as vivid, and 
almost as classical as the chapel, is a trecento product of the 
transition from romanesque to gothic, and w^as but recently 
brought forth piecemeal from the church to be re-erected 
on this vacant plot, where its effect in the sunlight is incom- 
parably finer. One does not notice that it is but half the 
height of the chapel; the close confinement of all the build- 
ings prevents such a comparison. One notices only that it 
is a " gem of purest ray serene," a happy superior to its 
neighbour in quiet dignity and harmony of design. Octag- 
onal in shape, the basement of light grey stone has not a 
break except in the round-arched portal, recessed v^ith dainty 
red and white mouldings; the second division is a continuous 
colonnade of slender red and grey shafts, with curious double 
capitals, and elongated statues set in niches at the angles; 
the frieze is arcaded trefoil, the grey cornice is delicately 
cut upon the edges; each ridge of the octagonal pointed roof 
carries another statue of a saint, and from the ball of the 
shapely lantern springs a fairylike angel. Behind it rises 
a joyous background like a painting, — a hillside of private 
gardens, blooming with vines, pergolas, shrubberies and 
flowers. Handsome, modern, iron railings separate both 
this building and its neighbour from the open, and are sur- 
mounted by other statues. 

As the Baptistery closed one end of the narrow court, so 
I now found, upon turning my eyes to the left, another light 
and glistening edifice closing that end, looking down upon 
the little temple with a huge domed mass many times its 
size. This would be an entire surprise to an unprepared 
traveller, for the structure is quite hidden from the piazza. 
It is the Cathedral, built by Scamozzi in 1614, and inferior 
in every way to S. Maria Maggiore. Its white stone facade, 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 43 

rising upon steps, in two divisions, is a fairly handsome and 
imposing Renaissance work, which, however, appears plain 
beside the others. A single-storied, projecting portico of 
three arches covers the portals, topped by domes and statu- 
ary; the single large window above is in the form of a 
loggia, with two heavy columns; at its sides are two ornate 
niches containing statues, and above the classic pediment 
soars the shapely dome that I had beheld from the plain be- 
low. 

Finally I turned my attention to the greater church, and 
its wonderful porch, which Street and so many other critics 
have extolled. It rests against the aged dark stones of the 
building's left transept, in the angle formed by the project- 
ing Cappella Colleoni. The mass of the edifice was erected 
in Romanesque days, about 1 140, but this and the corre- 
sponding porch upon the southern side were the work of that 
Giov. da Campione who constructed the Baptistery, in the 
14th century. Upon the customary steps two slender, red 
marble columns rise from crouching lions, to support a 
rounded arch adorned with a series of exquisite open-work 
pendants; to the beasts are attached a number of strange 
little figures, once human in shape but now worn to mere 
lumps of marble, engaged in clambering over their backs 
and sides, — one of them laughably engaged in pulling out 
his lion's tongue ; upon the uncorniced platform over the arch 
rise four shorter columns, straight and spiral, upholding 
three trefoil arches, of which the central is slightly taller; 
and the armed S. Alessandro sits his horse in the middle, 
with a standing saint upon each side. So far all the con- 
struction is of red Verona marble, except the pendants and 
the three trefoil arches, which are grey; and here the pyra- 
mid is completed by a third division, entirely of grey mar- 



44 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ble, — a two-columned canopy, surmounting the middle tre- 
foil, containing a seated Madonna with two saints, and 
capped by a plain, angular spire. 

" The space at the back of the open divisions, and the wall 
over the main arch of the porch, are built in courses of red 
and white marble. All the groining is divided into diamond- 
shaped panels, composed alternately of black, red and white 
marble, and all the cusping, of grey. The construction of 
the whole is very weak, and depends altogether for its sta- 
bility upon iron ties in every direction. The approach to 
the porch, by seven steps formed alternately of black and 
white marble, increases the impressiveness of the grand door- 
way in front of which it is built, the whole of which is of 
whitish marble, whose carved surfaces and rich moulded 
and traceried work have obtained a soft yellow colour by 
their exposure to the changing atmosphere, and are relieved 
by one — the central shaft — being executed in purest red 
marble. There are three shafts in each jamb, carved, 
twisted, and moulded very beautifully. These shafts are 
set in square recesses, ornamented, not with mouldings, 
but with elaborate flat carvings, in one place of saints, in an- 
other of animals, and with foliage very flat in character, 
and mainly founded upon the acanthus. — Such a porch is 
indeed a great treat — teeming as it does with ideas so fresh 
and new, — offering so beautiful a study of constructional 
colouring that it is impossible to tire of gazing at it." * 

It was of this very porch, perhaps, as seen through the 
dusky arcades of the Broletto, that Tennyson wrote, upon 
one of those wintry, rainy days that accompanied his unsea- 
sonable visit and darkened with dreariness every scene: 

"And stern and sad (so rare the smiles 

Of sunlight) looked the Lombard piles, 

* Street's " Brick and Marble Architecture in the Middle Ages." 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 45 

Porch-pillars on the lion resting, 
And sombre old colonnaded aisles." 

Walking to left beyond the transept, the romanesque style 
of the church itself became quickly manifest, in a chapel- 
apse adorned with Lombard pilaster-strips and a charming 
upper colonnade of detached shafts. Beside it was another 
entrance, and far above I saw the campanile rising, to a bel- 
fry of double white arches. Here the court ended in a 
narrow passage between the side of the Cathedral and the 
choir of the church; following it, I found the great apse 
of the latter decorated with similar romanesque pilasters and 
colonnade, in fine grey stone, and most effective. The way 
led me around to the south transept, where Campione's 
other porch crowned the portal, somewhat similar in con- 
struction to the northern but considerably more simple.^ I 
entered the church by it, — and stood appalled in the im- 
mense, dusky interior. 

It had been entirely restored in a vicious baroque manner, 
painful to contemplate, which quite spoiled the original im- 
pressive proportions of the lofty vaulted nave, the broad 
aisles, the extensive transept, and wide, deep choir. The 
two-storied, hexagonal, romanesque dome, howeverj, still 
soared grandly over the centre. The choir was elevated 
three steps, faced by a splendid wooden screen crowned by 
a trecento crucifixion, and was backed by the five round- 
arched windows of its noble apse. The only chapels opened 
from the transepts, on the choir's right and left hand, four in 
number. The pillars were sheathed in fluted marble; and 
everywhere above the side arches, on soflits, spandrels, lun- 
ettes, upper-walls, vaulting and dome, was spread a vast 
mass of stucco decoration, upon gilded background and with 
gilded trimmings, horrible to behold. These same walls 

^ For a further description of this porch, see page 55. 



46 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

were once adorned with beautiful frescoes of saintly beings 
by Paxino da Nova; but nothing remains of them save a few 
meaningless fragments behind the tapestry of the left 
transept. 

These old tapestries, in fact, not only hide the ruined 
frescoes and greatly compensate for the baroque horrors, 
but are so numerous and so fine as to make the place look 
somewhat like the hall of a mediaeval castle. One of the 
largest and best hangs on the front wall, Flemish work of 
the 1 8th century, representing a huge Crucifixion; over It Is 
a large canvas by Luca Giordano, a Crossing of the Red Sea, 
of effective chiaroscuro and considerable dramatic power. 
On the walls to right and left hang excellent Florentine 
cinquecento tapestries, and from the railings of the music 
balconies above the choir depend two rare quattrocento 
pieces of the same school. Near these, ajffixed to the pillars 
flanking the choir, are twin renaissance pulpits, looking down 
the nave, of very handsome design In black and white mar- 
bles, and carrying upon their steps two beautiful bronze 
railings of Hungarian seicento work. 

There are three interesting tombs, located together in the 
first bay of the right aisle: one is Donizetti's, — a marble 
pedestal against the pillar, cut with enchanting reliefs of 
putti weeping and breaking their lyres in excess of grief, 
and bearing a noble figure of the mourning muse; the second, 
opposite, against the front wall, is also modern, and raised for 
another of Bergamo's musical geniuses, GIov. SImone Mayr, — 
representing in marble a group of three lovely singing angels ; 
the third, upon the right wall. Is that of Cardinal Longo 
degli Alessandri, executed originally by Ugo da Campione 
in the early trecento^ and lately much restored. Its praises 
are deservedly sung. The sarcophagus is supported upon 
mediaeval lions, and at the four corners about its recumbent 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 47 

prelate stand two little angels and two acolytes, while the 
canopy above them rests on slim columns upheld by two sep- 
arate, crouching figures of old men ; — a delightful gothic 
design, well executed in grey marble. 

Besides Giordano's there is but one painting worth men- 
tion, the Christ in Glory of Antonio Boselli, in the chapel to 
right of the choir, — a curious, primitive panel, showing the 
Saviour in a vesica piscis amidst throngs of angels, with a 
confused crowd of struggling saints below. Another 17th 
century Hungarian work is the series of six bronze candel- 
abra, large and handsome, that extend across the front of 
the choir. — But dwarfing all else in beauty and interest is 
the unsurpassed tarsiatura, — the chejs d'ceuvre of the Ber- 
gamasque school. 

First and foremost are the four panels upon the front of 
the choir-screen, which have rightly the leading place in their 
art. These wonderful, large scenes were executed by Fra 
Damiano himself, from the designs of Lotto; and I felt 
at the first glance that there was naught to be seen like them 
anywhere. Here again was the portrayal of human figures, 
in animated, dramatic tableaux of historical import, against 
striking backgrounds of much diversity and perspective, — 
figures thoroughly well modelled, posed and grouped, such 
as that great inlayer alone could execute. On th' left of 
the middle entrance were the Ark upon the Flood and the 
Crossing of the Red Sea; on the right, David meeting 
Goliath, and Judith with the head of Holofernes, — the last 
a marvellous scene, whose terrible tragedy is clearly expressed 
in the awe-struck women, Judith and her maid, slinking 
from the warrior's tent, and putting into a bag the grew- 
some human relic, while behind them in weird contrast 
stretches afar the moonlit countryside, occupied by the sleep- 
ing army. 



48 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The choir-stalls, though not so entirely exceptional, are 
also of great superiority. Every back is closed with a sep- 
arate, locked panel, all of which the sacristan slowly re- 
moved for my inspection. The varied scenes are entirely 
from the New Testament, — executed by Fran. Capodiferro, 
in 1520-32; the rest of the Inlaid decorations were by GIov. 
Belli. Once more I beheld tarsia of the effectiveness of 
painting, with atmosphere, expressiveness, and human forms 
of extraordinary llfelikeness and grace, engaged in strong 
dramatic tableaux. How Inconceivable that the mere grain- 
ing and colours of wood could be so far carried ! The veri- 
est tyro in art-study cannot fail of impression here. 

One more masterpiece remained to surprise me, — this 
time of the silversmith's work. The sacristan took me into 
the large sacristy to left of the choir, opened a stout cupboard 
with several doors and half-a-dozen different locks, — and 
there blazed upon my eyes In sudden brilliance a great sllvei* 
cross, one metre high and nearly as wide, laden with a 
wealth of decoration as refined as it was profuse. It was 
the celebrated Bergamo Cross, of the trecento, — of that 
superb gothic workmanship which has left us not more than 
a dozen such supreme examples, in various cities of the pen- 
insula. At the broadened tips of the three upper arms, and 
affixed just above the base, were four half -figures, of the 
Madonna, the Magdalen, the Baptist, and St. John the 
Evangelist; at the centie, originally adorned with a precious 
medallion that has long disappeared, reposed a strongly mod- 
elled crucifix of the cinque cento; these and the lesser decora- 
tions were all of silver; and the base, of the same material, 
represented a miniature, swelling temple, of domed, oriental 
form. Upon the back, the four arms bore the symbols of 
the evangelists, with the exception of a lamb In place of that 
of St. Matthew; and its centre held an image of God the 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 49 

Father. Everything was elegantly executed, with a fidelity 
to nature, a shapeliness, and sense of proportions, such that 
I could hardly at first believe it a work of the trecento. 
There were also shown me a few things of far less impor- 
tance, Including some specimens of niello ware. 

Lunch-time had already passed; so I resorted to the cafe 
In the piazza, partook hurriedly of some light refreshment, 
and returned to Inspect the Interior of Cappella Colleoni. 
In it, as Symonds says, '' we learn to know Antonio Amadeo, 
not only as an enthusiastic cultivator of the mingled Chris- 
tian and pagan quattrocento, but as an artist, in the truest 
sense of the word, sympathetic." ^ Living from 1447 to 
1522, entering upon his work at the time when Fllarete 
and MIchelozzo had at last succeeded in overcoming the in- 
fluence of the Lombard gothic and introducing the Floren- 
tine style of the early Renaissance, he was one of that great 
quintet of sculptor-architects (Including Solarl, Rodari and 
the brothers Mantegazza, and himself perhaps the greatest 
of them all) who turned Milan into a city beautiful, and 
spread their brilliant works over all northern Italy. Of 
their numerous masterpieces, easily the pre-eminent are the 
Certosa dl Pavia — where Amadeo shines with unsurpass- 
able splendour — the Cathedral of Como, and this same 
Chapel of the Colleoni. 

Through the single doorway I entered a square, lofty 
chamber, domed at an Imposing height, brightly lighted by 
the round window above the entrance and the oblong ones 
beside It, and having a recess in the right side, containing 
the altar. The famous monument of Colleoni faced the in- 
gress, about 15 feet wide and fully 40 feet high, occupying 
most of the rear wall, and looming overhead with its eques- 
trian bronze statue In splendid effectiveness. On the left 

6 J. A. Symonds' " Fine Arts," Chap. III. 



50 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

wall stood the smaller, more delicate, and more exquisite 
monument of his daughter Medea. Both were of glistening 
white marble, and the walls gleamed everywhere with whit- 
ened stucco painted in soft grisaille, except for the huge de- 
cadent canvases in heavy baroque frames next the cornice, 
and the pictures occupying the lofty lunettes beneath the 
dome. Three of these last were by G. B. Tiepolo, — St. 
John preaching, baptising Christ, and suffering decapitation, 
— of a 'treatment that succeeded only in mocking the sacred 
subjects. The marbled floor of different hues, the bedizened 
altar, the dark wood seats and doors, the greyish baroque 
reliefs above the latter, the gilding of the mouldings and 
other architectural trimmings, as well as of Colleoni's bronze 
statue itself, — all conjoined in a glow of colour that at once 
gave opulence to the scene and set forth the pure, untinted 
monuments. 

The figures of the condottiere and his warhorse were mod- 
elled by Sixtus Siry of Nuremburg in 1501 ; all the rest 
of the tombs was Amadeo's work, as well as the chapel it- 
self, — which however had been considerably altered by the 
unfortunate addition of the baroque reliefs, pictures, gild- 
ings, etc., in the latter part of the i8th. century. Originally 
it must have been much simpler and more pleasing. The 
chief monument rises against the rear wall in three divisions. 
The first is a large rectangular coffer, thrice as long as it is 
high, supported on four slender, fluted, corinthian pillars, 
from the bases of which project lions' heads and forepaws; 
along the lower edge of the coffer, runs a delightful frieze of 
amorini playing with medallions, surmounted by a cornice; 
and above the cornice it is divided by four statuettes of Vir- 
tues into three compartments of dainty reliefs, portraying in a 
strangely fascinating and graceful style such sombre subjects 
as the Bearing the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Pieta. 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 51 

From the middle of its top rises the second division, the 
sarcophagus itself, upon three fanciful pillars; it is faced 
with three more scenes in relief, — the Nativity, Annuncia- 
tion, and Visit of the Magi, of slightly larger figures but 
likewise delicate and pleasing; by its pillars are three curious 
seated statues of antique garb, said to represent Colleoni's 
three sons-in-law, and beside them, at the upper corners of 
the base, stand two Roman warriors, Mars and Hercules, 
before the tall corlnthian columns which uphold the lofty 
canopy. This canopy consists of a rounded arch and simple 
entablature, with Roman medallions in its spandrels; and it 
covers, not only the gilt equestrian figure, which is stiff, 
crude and ill-proportioned, but also the two marble nymphs 
standing beside the latter, — said by some to represent Colle- 
oni's daughters. The mixture of Christian and pagan im- 
agery is thus complete, but not so noticeable as might seem; 
for the eye is mainly captivated by the brilliant series of re- 
liefs, w^hose glistening loveliness, joined with the slender 
grace of the construction, are the pre-eminent factors in the 
effect. 

The tomb of Medea upon the left consists only of a sar- 
cophagus in a shallow rectangular recess, some 8 feet wide 
by 15 high, framed by Corinthian pilasters cut with exquisite 
arabesques, having its drooping marble curtains drawn up 
and fastened at the upper corners, and surmounted by a 
sort of pediment made of a wreath of holly flanked by doves. 
The sarcophagus rests upon three w^inged heads of putti; its 
face is divided by fluted pilasters into the customary three 
com.partments, which here contain but a half-figure of Christ 
in the centre and wreathed insignia at the sides; upon its top 
lies the maiden's quietly gowned form; and from the tessel- 
lated, black and white wall above it, project three small re- 
lieved figures, — the Madonna with two female saints, re- 



52 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

spectlvely seated and kneeling, upon a tablet with a Latin 
inscription. 

But small and simple as this tomb is, beside the other, 
it is far more quiet, dignified, and symmetrical, in much 
better taste and feeling, and has been deservedly lauded by 
generations of critics as one of Amadeo's most perfect works. 
" Far more noteworthy," said J. A. Symonds, " than Colle- 
oni's own monument is that of his daughter Medea. She 
died young, in 1470, and her father caused her tomb, carved 
of Carrara marble, to be placed in the Dominican church of 
Basella, which he had previously founded. It was not until 
1842 that this most precious masterpiece of Antonio Ama- 
deo's skill was transferred to Bergamo. — * Hie jacet Medea 
virgo/ — Her hands are clasped across her breast. A robe 
of rich brocade, gathered to the waist and girdled, lies in 
simple folds upon the bier. Her throat, exceedingly long 
and slender, is circled with a string of pearls. Her face is 
not beautiful — but it is pure, and expressive of vivid indi- 
viduality. The hair curls in crisp, short clusters, and the 
ear, fine and shaped almost like a faun's, reveals the scrupu- 
lous fidelity of the sculptor. Italian art, has, in truth, noth- 
ing more exquisite than this still sleeping figure of the girl, 
who, when she lived, must certainly have been so rare of 
type and loveable in personality."'^ And again: *' The 
sensibility to loveliness so delicate, and the power to render 
it in marble with so ethereal a touch upon the rigid stone, 
belong to the sculptor, and win for him our worship." * 

Under this tomb I observed another example of the special 
Bergamasque art, — three fine tarsia panels, of Old Testa- 
ment scenes, exhibiting many lifelike figures in spirited action ; 
they were a late work, executed by Giov. Batt. Caniana 

■^ J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 
8 J. A. Symonds' " Fine Arts," Chap. III. 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 53 

toward the end of the seicento, and are therefore surprisingly 
excellent. In the altar-recesses I noticed four other panels 
by the same hand, almost equally good. Upon the altar 
stood three cinquecento statues of saints, of a noble sim- 
plicity; and near it, upon the wall, hung Angelica Kauf- 
mann's beautiful canvas (1785) of the Holy Family with 
the infant St. John, — a warmly toned, glowing, happily 
conceived work, of much tenderness, with skilful effects of 
light and colour; both the children being enchantingly lovely, 
and one of them prettily engaged in feeding a lamb from a 
saucer. 

The interior of the Baptistery proved to be of no interest, 
containing only some early reliefs of the Passion, of little 
value. I crossed to the Duomo, where half-a-dozen beggars 
crouched upon the steps and around the one open entrance, — 
forms hideous with rags, disease and deformities, holding out 
eager claws to the passing worshippers. Every one knows 
that these beings found at church-doors are practically li- 
censed by the ecclesiastical authorities, who permit certain of 
them to seek alms there, while the rest are driven away; 
every one also knows that they have made begging a profes- 
sion, that they exaggerate their infirmities, keep open their 
sores, and assume the filthiest of tatters while they have 
excellent clothes at home. Yet their palms are regularly 
filled by the devout Italians, who would fear to pass by them 
to service without dispensing a soldo In charity. They look 
upon the subject in a very different light from the Anglo- 
Saxon's wrath with laziness and imposture. To them it is a 
matter of their religion ; as they are commanded, they give 
alms, for the salvation of their souls, with little regard to the 
merit of the object, — which is especially considered neces- 
sary when going to service of mass or confession. 

They also enjoy giving; Italians are by nature the most 



54 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

charitable people of the world; no country can compare 
with theirs in the number of eleemosynary institutions, in 
the number of the sick, the afflicted, and the mendicant sup- 
ported, — maintained by the gifts of the poor as much as 
by those of the rich. Travellers are utterly mistaken when 
they imagine that beggars exist through the credulous sym- 
pathy of foreigners ; foreigners give very little, almost nothing ; 
— it is the generosity of the natives. Baretti noticed this 
curious error a century and a half ago : " Amongst the gen- 
eral characteristics of Italians, no travel-writer has ever been 
so sagacious or so generous as to observe that charity is one of 
the most conspicuous, — that charity which is Christianly 
termed universal love, and liberality to the necessitous. To 
be convinced that I do not attribute this glorious character- 
istic to my countrymen out of a blind partiality, the reader 
needs only to be apprised, that no country whatsoever 
abounds so much in hospitals as Italy," ^ 

The Cathedral, enormous as it is, has but two artistic 
treasures ; — but they are worth an ordinary score. It is 
a wide, lofty basilica, with transept and dome, a semicircular 
choir, and gilt arabesques over all the walls, the vaulting, 
and the drum, — producing an ugly, gaudy effect upon the 
white stucco. Scamozzi was responsible for these spacious, 
classical proportions, but the " gingerbread gilding " must 
have come later. In the bright light the hemicycle of dark, 
richly cut, high choir-stalls stood forth with much effect. 
Three deep recesses on each hand held the side altars; and 
over the first to left glistened an alluring pala of Moroni 
(1575) — the Madonna seated upon a cloud, before an open 
window showing a wide expanse of green, hilly country and 
blue sky, with Sts. Jerome and Catherine kneeling below. 

Behind the high-altar, enclosed by wooden doors which the 

^Baretti's "Manners and Customs in Italy," Vol. II. 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 55 

sacristan unlocked, I was shown one of Glan Bellini's won- 
derful Madonnas, in remarkable preservation. " Wonder- 
ful " is the only word ; how else can we characterize the 
beauty of a feminine form so utterly simple in countenance, 
garb and attitude, standing with folded hands behind a table 
on which the sacred infant is playing with some doves In a 
basket, yet so unutterably lovely in glow of tone and colour- 
ing, in perfection of modelling, in gentleness of expression, 
In the atmosphere of blissful rest, that the observer is Inevita- 
bly exalted to that realm of beatitude! Compared with its 
grandeur of modelling and expression, and Its harmony of 
red and blue shades, the row of huge paintings encircling the 
apse were monuments of Inability and decadence. Only one 
of them was worthy of notice, — the Martyrdom of the Bap- 
tist by G. B. TIepolo, second from the left end. 

Returning to the southern porch of S. Maria Magglore, I 
gazed for awhile at Its quaint supports, — the two standing, 
well preserved, white lions In front, and the two crouching 
hunchbacks In rear, from which rose the slender shafts of the 
canopy; blue and white marbles alternately were used in the 
voussoirs of the arch and the courses of the spandrels; the 
frieze consisted of a series of little niches with richly carved 
statuettes of the Saviour and the twelve Apostles; and over 
them soared the tall, slim, gothic spire, faced by another 
niche and statue, elaborately sculped as to columns, gables, 
crockets and flnlals. It was very beautiful and inspiring, 
in the colour scheme as well as in the lines. 

To right of It, In rear, the handsome old romanesque cam- 
panile rose, now clearly revealed from this adjacent piazza, 
of smooth grey stone up to its fine, white-arched belfry; and 
flanking the portal were two picturesque chapel-apses, one 
restored, the other still retaining its original romanesque 
columns, caps, and arches. Opposite I observed a house 



56 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

covered with old frescoes whose designs were yet evident, — 
amongst them some fanciful, large, architectural schemes, 
with colonnades in long perspective; and upon the near-by 
corner, framed and covered by a wire netting, stood a re- 
stored, pretty picture of the Madonna wath saints. 

A short way northwest upon the Via Arena, which here 
runs to the right, lies the small but ancient church of S. 
Grata, to which I strolled over, finding it noteworthy only 
for some excellent mosaics. Just south of the piazza, upon 
a slightly higher elevation, I observed the immense renais- 
sance palace which had been so prominent from the plain, 
embellished with a central classic portico of great corlnthlan 
columns. A walk up the narrow Via Colleoni, the exten- 
sion of Via Gomblto beyond Piazza Garibaldi, also proved 
rather interesting, — both on account of the street itself, 
confined darkly between tall, crumbling houses, thoroughly 
medlseval, and because it led me to an open space at the 
western angle of the hilltop, looking down its precipitous 
northern slope to the beautiful vale between the city and 
the mountains. This was richly verdurous, sparkling with 
white farmhouses and the buildings of a considerable village. 

At this apex of the summit was a large aggregation of old 
structures which I was told represented the ancient citadel, 
— that castle of Bergamo which for so many generations had 
made the city one of the most important fortresses of the 
Milanese}^ Its strategic value was not lost upon " the In- 
carnate genius of war," ^^ when in 1797 he was consolidat- 
ing his mastery of the plain. *' In order to protect himself 
from the efforts which an enemy coming from the Valtellina 

10 This Italian word has always been used to denote the whole 
realm of Milan, in the Mediaeval and Renaissance periods; and I 
know of no corresponding English term. 

11 Madame de Stael's characterisation of Napoleon. 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 57 

might make on his rear, he caused Baraguay d'Hilliers to 
seize the castle of Bergamo." ^^ Today its ground is cov- 
ered by an ordinary, dilapidated mass of buildings, the forti- 
fications -entirely gone. 

Returning along Via Colleoni and Via Gombito I reached 
again the little piazza at the head of the funicolare; thence 
followed the Via di Porta Dipinta to the left, which de- 
scended rapidly, parallel with the southern walls, to the east- 
ern angle of the hilltop, which is considerably lower than 
the rest of it. Halfway down the slope the rough-brick 
church of S. Andrea appeared upon the right, flanked by an 
open yard; and on walking to the rear of the latter, beside 
the apse, I found myself upon a lofty terrace directly above 
the trees of the mural promenade, gazing over the walls at 
the white buildings of the newer city far below, which were 
scattered long and irregularly through the green fields and 
patches of wood. 

The sun was setting on the unbroken western horizon, 
and its level, streaming rays cast a haze of glory over the 
storied scene, spreading the meadows with a velvety sheen, 
gilding every house-wall, sparkling in distant windows, ac- 
centuating with long shadows the lines of cypresses and pop- 
lars. Beyond the straggling borgoes, glistening with unreal 
beauty, a score of tall brick chimneys rose from their broad 
factories, expelling the faint smoke of dying fires, and 
gleaming ruddily in the western light. Beyond them, again, 
stretched the far, historic plain, endowed at this hour with a 
lustrous, romantic loveliness that thrilled the heart with un- 
speakable emotions: those endless vineyards, and fields of 
mulberry trees, those numberless white villas, villages and 
towns, glittering from the emerald verdure as far as the eye 
could see, those straight, tall campanili, with iridescent tiles 

12 " Italian Campaigns of Bonaparte," Chap. VI. 



58 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

upon their domes and spires, marking every borough, and 
piercing like sentinels the level skyline, — what profound 
recollections did they not awake, of princely avarice, martial 
struggles, and human misery! 

" 'Tis at this hour, to the sound of bells, that the genius 
of old cities seems to gather himself up and overcome the 
heart." ^^ It was true ; — for the bells were waking now, 
as the golden rays vanished from the plain, and the fiery 
orb sank slowly out of sight. With that pathos inseparable 
from the song of the " Ave Maria," first from one belfry 
of the city, then another, then a campanile in the distant 
plain, — far and near the brazen throats joined in the chorus, 
mellow, or harsh, or sweetly pure ; calling to each other over 
the level tree-tops, answering, replying, — uniting at last 
in one thrilling anthem of prayer. Sweet hour of twilight, 
— hour of prayer, — hour of love ! — how many times have 
the poets of every tongue so addressed thee, in merited rhap- 
sodies. 

"Ave Maria! blessed be the hour, 
The time, the clime, the spot where I so oft 
Have felt that moment in its fullest power 
Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft. 
While swung the deep bell in the distant tower, 
As the faint dying-day hymn stole aloft, 
And not a breath crept through the rosy air, 
And yet the forest-leaves seemed stirred with prayer." i* 

Again I thought of the Conqueror who had stood here, 
remembering how, when never so immersed in war, in gov- 
ernment, in reconstruction of the world, the sound of the 
vesper-bells struck him instantly to silence and emotion. 
" He would stop, lest the noise of our footsteps should drown 
any portion of the delightful sound. — So powerful was the 

13 Vernon Lee's " Genius Loci." 
14 Byron's "Don Juan," Canto III. 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 59 

efFect produced on him by the sound of those bells that his 
voice would falter as he said, — *' Ah ! That reminds me of 
the first years I spent at Brienne.- — I was then happy! " ^^ 

The "Ave Maria," the '* Angelus," — such beautiful names 
they are, for this twilight invocation to commune with God. 
As the elysian diapason lost its singers one by one, sank 
dreamily down, lingered a moment, and died away upon the 
sunset air, — I searched my memory for their origin. It was 
long ago, in ancient or early mediaeval Italy, when this hour 
was the twenty-fourth of the day, that its close began to wit- 
ness the calling of the devout to their diurnal prayer ; and in 
1326 Pope John XXII ordered that every good Catholic 
should say three Aves at the sound of the church-bells, morn- 
ing, noon and night. These were " reckoned by the small 
beads of the rosary, which are hence called Ave Marias, while 
the large beads are used in the Pater Nosters." Hence also 
the natural transition of the term of Ave Maria to the sun- 
set hour and its bell; while the prayer itself received the 
further appellation of the Angelus. 

The service in S. Andrea was already under way, as I 
turned from the adjacent yard into the dusky nave. This 
was domed, and separated from the aisles by colonnades (un- 
arched) of stucco painted in imitation of marble, with corin- 
thian capitals; each aisle held one altar in a recess; around 
the apsidal choir the colonnade continued, in the form of 
half-columns upholding a painted cornice, and the ceiling 
was painted in designs to imitate reliefs ; — altogether a 
very strange, but very cheap and modern, construction. 
Over the right-hand altar stood Moretto's fine canvas of the 
Madonna with four saints, in a tone of exceptional warmth, 
with figures beautifully moulded and posed, in a languorous, 

IS Bourrienne's "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte," Chap. 
XXVIII. 



6o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

crepuscular atmosphere; the Virgin sat throned before an 
ancient broken pillar, against a sky of delicious blueness. — 
At the end of the right aisle was a modern picture of strik- 
ing merit, — a St. Anthony of Padua, carrying a child of ex- 
ceeding loveliness, so cleverly portrayed that they seemed 
actually detached from the wall as living beings. 

Keeping on down the street, I came quickly to a small 
piazza at the bottom of the slope, and the ruinous old church 
of S. Michele al Pozzo Bianco — or St. Michael at the 
White Well — rising behind a dirty courtyard upon an 
adjacent knoll. Its fagade was to be distinguished from the 
contiguous dwellings only by some lingering cinquecento 
frescoes, of much shapeliness, — a St. Christopher, a pretty, 
rounded Madonna of pleasing expression, between four 
angels, and other scenes partly destroyed. The mouldering 
houses upon the eastern and southern sides of the court once 
doubtless formed a mediaeval monastery. Good wives stood 
gossiping in the open doorways of their dusky kitchens, and 
screaming children tumbled round the yard in play. 

The sacristan appeared, and admitted me through a simple 
entrance to the strange, square basilica, without aisles, col- 
umns, or transept, covered by a late wooden roof; the last 
was supported by two gothic, stone, triumphal arches; the 
structure's great age was indicated by the uneven, crumbling, 
plastered walls, adorned by early frescoes mostly vanished, 
and broken by no chapel nor recess except at the rear, where 
the high-altar space was flanked by little chambers. 

Upon both sides of the first triumphal arch lingered a 
number of primitive saints, by one Giorgius, as appeared 
from his signature on the left pier, with the date 1440. On 
the right wall hung a charming canvas of Leandro Bassano, 
in his best manner, — of beautiful silvery tone and finish, 
and not too dark; it showed a Coronation of the Virgin, in 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 6i 

clouds, surrounded by angels and winged putti-he?Lds, with 
five saints below in a moonlit blue landscape, — of most 
winsome colouring, modelling, and light-effects. More ex- 
tensive frescoes decorated the rear wall above the chapel- 
arches, and the interiors of the chapels, — the former, and 
those in the left chapel, being works of the brilliant Lotto. 
Over the right arch was a scene of the angel appearing to 
Joachim in the temple, with some fine heads of old men; 
over the left arch was the Visitation, in heroic figures of 
much expressiveness, once splendidly coloured; and the small 
chapel behind it glistened brightly with the master's beautiful 
forms and hues, on every wall and the ceiling, — works con- 
sidered among the few best of all his frescoes, and certainly 
superior to those of the Villa Suardi at Trescorre. So there 
is no need to journey ten miles from Bergamo to ascertain 
Lotto's ability in this line. 

On the chapel's left wall, below, was an Adoration of 
the Child, unfortunately mostly destroyed, and above it, an 
Annunciation; on the rear wall, below, the Journey into 
Egypt, with lovely figures in the Madonna and accompany- 
ing angel, amidst an agreeable, extended landscape ; above 
it, the Birth of the Virgin, excellently composed and realistic 
in details ; on the right wall, below, the finest scene of them 
all, an Adoration of the Magi, — the Holy Family seated 
upon the broken steps of a portico of a ruined temple, the 
Magi kneeling before them, and their train winding sinu- 
ously back through the shadowy countryside; above this, 
the Marriage of the Virgin, not so effective; while the flat 
dome bore a majestic figure of God the Father, borne in 
clouds by puttij radiating strength and splendour. — The de- 
cadent anonymous frescoes of the high-altar recess, on the 
contrary, were horrifying, except for the ceiling, where shone 
another image of the Father, with the Evangelists and their 



62 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

symbols, — of fair drawing, especially in the heads. The 
right chapel held a pleasing canvas by Jacopo Paulus, — a 
Madonna between two saints, crowned by two comely angels, 
— of considerable charm in tone and hues. 

The sacristan next led me down a dark flight of stairs 
on the left of the nave, to a passage containing some early 
frescoes, of the Saviour and five Fathers of the Church; be- 
yond which, to my surprise, opened a clearly ancient crypt, 
lighted by small windows, denuded of all furnishing except 
a simple altar at the rear. Over this altar the aged plaster 
held a group of primitive figures in the debased Giottesque 
manner, — the Saviour with Sts. Roch and Sebastian ; on 
the right wall remained a few fragments of a Madonna 
and saints; and upon the left was a superior representation 
of the same subject, also lifesize, with the flesh at- 
tractively rounded and tinted, — said to have been the work 
of Paxino da Nova. If this is true — which some doubt — 
it is a valuable relic indeed. 

The twilight was now rapidly fading, — in the crypt we 
had had to use candles; but keeping on down the street, I 
quickly reached another piazza, wide, deserted, and grass- 
grown, faced by no edifices except an old gothic church upon 
the east, which was backed by a large cluster of monastery 
buildings. This was the secularized S. Agostino, standing 
upon the extreme eastern apex of the hilltop ; and its sub- 
version to use as a barrack was revealed by the soldiers 
lounging about the doorways. The facade was of beautiful 
gothic, with a fine recessed portal, a shapely rose window, 
and two splendid, long, pointed windows at the sides. 

The piazza looked northward over the top of the city 
wall, with its avenue of horsechestnuts, to the same enticing 
valley below which I had seen at the western end, with its 
scattered white villages gleaming amongst the dense verdure ; 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 63 

the opposite hillsides, In their many shades of green upon 
meadows, vineyards, groves and olive-orchards, were also 
dotted picturesquely white with peasant's homes and villas 
of every size, whose each detail was plainly discernible from 
this height; and behind rose other hilltops, ever loftier and 
barer, till the farthest summits were but darkening crags 
against the wondrous, deep blue sky. 

To the west was raised a different scene, surprisingly 
striking and picturesque, — the old town of Bergamo, upon 
Its higher eminence, separated from where I stood by long 
stretches of empty fields; from the line of houses on the left, 
sloping down with the street I had descended, cliffs almost 
precipitate extended northward and northwestward around 
the upper height, crowned by mediaeval stone walls and 
bastions, dark and frowning, and dominated by the ruins of 
an Imposing castle, with a great round keep and battlemented 
towers ; — while behind them were visible the crowded 
house-tops and street-towers. I was rightly amazed; for 
none of all this was to be guessed from within the city. 
But on Inspecting the map. It was evident that this ancient 
castle stood just east of the piazza of the Luogo PIo Col- 
leonl, hidden, together with the walls and the cliff, behind 
the jumble of unpenetrated old buildings there. So here 
was an acropolis within a hilltop, — doubtless the earliest 
town Itself, before Its precincts were extended to cover the 
whole of the summit. 

Turning southward from the piazza, a few steps brought 
me to the eastern gate. Porta S, Agostino, — a mass of heavy 
masonry pierced by three deep archways, of general renais- 
sance design. Across the bridge over the dry moat, a grand 
view opened to the east and southeast, — the Alpine foot- 
hills stretching afar with successive fertile slopes and rounded 
crests, and, directly below, the terminal borgo of S. Caterlna, 



64 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

extending into the plain in an elongated line of stuccoed 
dwellings and massive churches. To the right a road led 
directly down to Borgo Pignolo ; but taking that to the east, 
to S. Caterina, I descended rapidly the slope between vine- 
yards and gardens, until the buildings began to close around 
me; and then, behind the three sides of a courtyard on the 
left, I saw the impressive renaissance palace of the Accademia 
Carrara, with prominent projecting wings, its main body 
handsomely adorned with Corinthian half-columns on the 
upper stories. 

It was the home of the celebrated picture-galleries of 
Bergamo, — one of the three or four greatest collections of 
the Lombard plain, and to me more enjoyable than any 
except the Brera of Milan. A couple of hundred paces 
beyond it brought me to the centre of the borgo, where I 
soon caught an electric tram for Via Torquato Tasso 
and my hotel; and I reached the last thoroughly fatigued 
by the long day. I should by all means advise two days 
being used to see the upper town ; I might as well have done 
so myself, for I returned there several times. 

My inspection of the Accademia was more leisurely and 
careful. It consists of three separate collections, bequeathed 
to the city by different wealthy citizens, and subsequently 
added to ; — the Galleries Lochis, Morelli and Carrara. 
They occupy a large part of the two upper floors, — princi- 
pally the second ; for on the first is shown only a single hall, 
called the Museo Carrara, containing many cases of coins 
and other objects of lesser interest, and many paintings of 
comparatively little worth. Among them, however, are a 
noble head of Christ by the rare Rocco Marconi (146) and 
a finely toned and tinted Madonna with saints, by Rizzardo 
Locatelli (29). 

Above the staircase, lined with drawings, opens a hall 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 65 

containing paintings of the early Bergamasque school, Inter- 
esting in their primitive way though almost entirely of un- 
known authorship; the best being a Pieta of considerable 
feeling, by Bramantlno. From this the Galleria Carrara leads 
eastward along the front of the central building, — the stairs 
being in the western angle, — three chambers filled with 
paintings of the later Bergamasque, the Milanese, and the 
Venetian schools ; a great part of which are works of the best 
class. Seldom an)rwhere have I seen so large a proportion 
of excellent pictures as In these three collections, and no- 
where have I been more enchanted by examples of perfect 
beauty. In such abundance, where scores are noteworthy, to 
distinguish but a few best is difficult indeed; I can but 
mention those that pleased me most of all. 

Room I included a large Madonna and saints by GIrolamo 
Colleoni (24), splendidly finished and lighted, in a lovely 
landscape of brown, green and blue; a Holy Family by 
Palma Vecchio, seated In another charming landscape, of 
remarkable Internal glow, and very beautiful; a superior 
Palma Giovane, the dead Christ In glory, vv^Ith saints below 
before a sunset sky; and a marvellous Prevltall (182) — the 
Holy Child seated on a stone wall, leaning upon a white 
silk cushion, looking at an open book, and behind Him the 
half-figure of the Madonna, leaning over, putting a transpar- 
ent kerchief about His shoulders with a touching expression 
of maternal love and pride, — both the forms glowing with 
a heavenly brightness and loveliness impossible to conceive; 
while to rear extend a ruinous castle, and a range of dis- 
tant blue mountains beneath a line of sunset gold. 

Room n had two other superb examples of Prevltall, — 
a Marriage of St. Catherine, with four attending saints 
(68), and a group of five richly framed panels, each holding 
a saint (97), of exceptionally golden tone and finish, simple 



66 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

yet unutterably pleasing. Here was Lotto's famous Mar- 
riage of St. Catherine, with female forms of fairest skin, 
brightest eyes, and resplendently hued garments, glistening 
in a strong light; also Santa Croce's early Annunciation 
(70) brilliant in tone and colours; Gaudenzio Ferrari's 
Madonna before a red curtain, looking out with winning 
naivete; a number of Moroni's powerful, lifelike portraits, 
of the first order; and a Christ at table with two Apostles, 
from the school of Gian Bellini (11) — a beautiful picture, 
of his softly golden, rayless atmosphere, and quiet charm. 

Room III was still more interesting: in the first place, it 
held some earlier works, including six excellent specimens 
of Bart. Vivarini, figures of the Madonna and saints, quaintly 
pleasing, a St. Jerome by Mansueti (186), in a queer land- 
scape of much variety, a grand head of Christ by Basaiti 
(165) another head by Carpaccio (144) one of Cima's 
golden Madonnas, with two infants (382) of seductive 
loveliness, and a fascinating bust of the Madonna by Man- 
tegna, on silk (153) with flesh of most delicate softness and 
skilful moulding. The Veronese Francesco Morone was rep- 
resented by a Madonna and saints, half-figures (188), pos- 
sessing a subdued splendour of form, colour and atmosphere. 
Finally, there were several Borgognone's of great beauty, 
especially the Pieta, the S. Caterina, and the S. Agata (375- 
6-7) ; and three Previtali's of a loveliness beyond expression, 
justly placed among the most perfect products of Italian art. 

One was a Madonna alone with her Child (184) seated 
In an old cloister, with the Infant upon a white cushion 
on her knee; another, a Madonna with Sts. Anna and 
Joachim (410), before a shattered Roman temple In a 
sumptuous landscape, the Virgin clad In a simple red dress 
and blue cloak, holding the Child upon the master's cus- 
tomary white cushion; and in the third (183) she is 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 67 

similarly garbed and posed, before a red curtain with no 
accessories nor landscape, accompanied by two saints and 
two donors. In all she is endowed with a truly wonderful, 
celestial beauty, of bewitching gentleness and sweetness of 
expression, in an atmosphere of golden shades. 

The Galleria Morelli consisted of two rooms opening 
from the second mentioned, smaller in extent, unnumbered, 
yet possessing a score of superior works, of various schools. 
Florence was represented by Lorenzo Credi's finely modelled, 
gentle, expressive Madonna, in an inviting landscape, a 
portrait-head by Baldovinetti, al frescOj Signorelli's small 
panel of Madonna and Child, Donatello's characteristic ter- 
ra-cotta relief of the same subject, and three fine specimens 
of Botticelli, — a head of a young man, a head of Christ, 
and a large striking panel of the Calumny of a Virgin, in 
four parts, from the same study as his famous Calumny 
at Florence, and very similar. From Venice were Cima's 
richly coloured Madonna and Child, before a wide, blue 
landscape, and two of Gian Bellini's brilliant treatments of 
the same subject, — one a bust with no background, the 
other a large canvas In his best manner (signed), having 
a charming countryside dotted with castellated towns. From 
Verona came the rare portrait-head by Vittore Pisano, and 
two small panels of Moretto, — an injured Madonna with 
St. Jerome, and a delightful scene of Christ with the woman 
at the well, effectively shadowed, with a superb figure of 
the Saviour. Chief amongst the various other schools were 
specimens of Sodoma, Civerchio, Franz Hals (a portrait 
head) Boltraffio (a captivating head of the youthful Christ) 
and Rembrandt's attractive portrait of a young girl, re- 
markable in its detail and expression. 

The Galleria Lochis consisted of three rooms running 
north from the outer hallway, along the western side, with 



68 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

pictures even more numerous and valuable than those of 
the Carrara. Its chief treasures vv^ere collected in the final 
chamber, whose array of masterpieces it would be difficult 
to find equalled anywhere, in a space of similar size. Most 
noteworthy in Room I were Mansueti's brightly hued Pieta, 
and Moretto's enchanting Holy Family, in his pearl and 
silver tone. Room II was remarkable for Carpaccio's S. 
Rocco (190) Guido Reni's Franciscan Friar (36) Velas- 
quez's full length portrait of a man (30) Previtali's exquisite 
Madonna and saints (176) with its noble, lifelike figure of 
St. Sebastian, Santa Croce's quaint row of saints against 
a blue sky (214) Holbein's three powerful portraits on 
black (57, 147, 148) and the extraordinary Pieta of Mar- 
cello Venusti (31) of startling realism and vividness. 

The final salon being almost entirely of masterpieces, I 
can mention but half a dozen of the most exceptional: the 
very rare Madonna and saints by Gentile da Fabriano (230) 
Gentile Bellini's commanding portrait of a Doge (151) 
Giorgione's two portraits of men (157, 164) Cima's win- 
some Madonna and Child (142) Francia's noble head of 
Christ (221) Raphael's marvellous head of a saint (207) 
Previtali's small but glorious Madonna (171) and Palma 
Vecchio's very beautiful Madonna and saints (183). There 
were three small canvases attributed to Mantegna, but more 
or less doubtfully, — a Resurrection, a St. Jerome, and a 
portrait of a bull-necked youth; also one attributed by 
some authorities to Leonardo, — a study of the Madonna 
and Child in chiaroscuro (136). 

Lotto's renowned picture of the Holy Family and St. 
Catherine adoring the sleeping Child, was in this room 
(185) — the babe lying upon a green velvet cloth, the 
others kneeling round about, and a wide, flat countryside 
stretching to rear, — " one of the most enticing and dainty 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 69 

pictures of the master." ^® But that which had for me a 
special interest, was a Madonna with two saints and donor, 
by Fra Marco Pensaben of Treviso (168), which, I ob- 
served, had the same rich tone, powerful drawing, and 
joyous colouring, as the unforgettable high-altar-piece of S. 
Niccolo in that town; showing after all that the good friar 
was quite capable of executing a large share of the excellen- 
cies of that masterpiece.^'^ 

— A number of very attractive excursions may be taken 
into the country around Bergamo, which is most pleasant 
for automobilists ; but the railways, steam tramways and 
electric lines are as available as a motor-car. The valleys 
of the Brembana and Seriana are both interesting, the latter 
more especially; for its second railway station, the village 
of Alzano, contains in its church of S. Martino one of 
Lotto's grandest canvases, the celebrated Death of St. Peter 
Martyr; — and thence through scenery increasingly pictur- 
esque, the road ascends to its terminus at Ponte della Selva, 
from which, and the near-by Clusone, one may make delight- 
ful walking trips and ascents in the Bergamasque mountains, 
rising to an elevation of more than 10,000 feet. 

The excursion through the eastern Val Cavallina is also 
enjoyable, from Trescorre at the southern end, with its re- 
nowned Villa Suardi containing Lotto's extensive frescoes, 
past the charming little Lago Spinone, to the fascinating 
town of Lovere on Lago d'Iseo; this lake is beautifully 
framed by mountains, as is Lovere itself, with its quaint old 
arcaded houses and Swiss roofs — an unusual combination ; 
and one may see in its churches a number of interesting 

16 Crowe and Cavalcasalle. 

^"^ Fide "Plain-Towns of Italy," — the chapter on Treviso; 
where the question of the authorship of that splendid masterpiece 
is discussed. 



70 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

frescoes of the Brescian Ferramola, as well as works of 
Romanino and Fran. Morone. 

Upon the plain the most pleasurable excursion is to Col- 
leoni's former countryhouse of Malpaga, where he lived long 
in such royal state, with 600 of his old soldiers as retainers. 
It lies about a mile from the tramway station of Cavernago, 
which is 7% miles southeast of Bergamo. By continuing 
on the tramway one would soon reach Martinengo, — once 
Colleoni's property but now a seat of the Brescian counts 
of that name, who also possess the Chateau of Malpaga and 
its estate, — and, a little further south, the villages of Romano 
and Antegnate, which, with their surrounding lands far 
and wide, were two more of the fiefs conferred upon Col- 
leoni by the grateful Venetian Republic. While fighting 
for it against Filippo Maria Visconti, he had steadily risen 
in rank until he commanded a condotta of nearly a thousand 
horsemen, and upon the death of Gattamelata in 1440, had 
received the leadership of the largest forces. 

When Colleoni finally settled down at Malpaga to enjoy 
the great wealth accumulated, his renowned courtly life be- 
came not only princely in its magnificence and constant en- 
tertainments, but also a prominent example of the new 
culture of the Renaissance; for Colleoni was a well bred 
man, of noble birth, from one of the oldest Bergamasque 
families. He was pious and remarkably benevolent. 
Through all his territories he executed valuable public works, 
in aqueducts, fountains, town-walls, civic buildings, irri- 
gation projects, etc.; the many eleemosynary institutions 
founded and maintained by his own resources, at Bergamo 
and various other towns, have given him a lasting fame, and 
claim to the people's gratitude. Churches, monasteries, hos- 
pitals, orphan asylums, establishments to dower poor girls, 
etc., through his genius and munificence have kept alive his 



BERGAMO THE UPPER 71 

fair name over all this countryside; and even in his death 
he intervened by his legacy to save the Serene Republic at a 
desperate crisis of her existence. 

No longer does the Castle of Malpaga present any appear- 
ance of that brilliant court vv^hich made it famous. The 
description of J. A. Symonds upon his visit several decades 
ago, included in his delightful article upon " Bergamo and 
Bart. Colleoni," gave a sad but true picture of the decay 
into w^hich' it, — like so many, many historic castles, — had 
fallen : 

" Its courts and galleries have been turned into a monster- 
farm, and the southern rooms, w^here Colleoni entertained 
his guests, are given over to the silk-w^orms. Half a dozen 
families employed upon the vast estate of the Martinengo 
family, occupy the still substantial house and stable. The 
moat is planted with mulberry trees; the upper rooms are 
used as granaries for golden maize; cows, pigs and horses 
litter in the spacious yard. Yet the walls of the inner 
court and of the ancient state-rooms are brilliant with fres- 
coes, executed by some good Venetian hand, which represent 
the chief events of CoUeoni's life, — his battles, his reception 
by the Signory of Venice, his tournaments and hawking 
parties, and the great series of entertainments with which 
he welcomed Christian of Denmark — " ^^ on the latter's 
pilgrimage to Rome. Some of these frescoes are by Ro- 
manino. 

It was in this now forlorn ruin that the great Colleoni 
spent a large part of '' the last eighteen years of his l^ie, — 
at Bergamo and in his castles of Malpaga, Romano and 
Martinengo, guarded by the 600 veterans who had grown 
grey in his service, and surrounded by a company of savants 
and artists in whose society he delighted. The latest biog- 

18 J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 



72 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

rapher of this model condottiere (Rio, In his ''Art Chre- 
tien ■") shows him to have been a pattern of every Christian 
and knightly virtue, truthful and disinterested, and, though 
passionate and Impetuous, ever ready to forgive his enemies 
and to recognise their good qualities. — He " transformed 
Romano Into an Escurlal, where he divided his time between 
pious and military exercises, In the midst of his double troop 
of warriors and monks, his young and old guard, which rep- 
resented to him his memories and his hopes." " ^^ 

19 C. C. Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



CHAPTER III 

MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 

" It chanced that in our last year's wanderings 
We dwelt at Monza, far away from home, 
If home we had ; and in the Duomo there 
I sometimes entered with her when she prayed. 
An image of our Lady stands there, wrought 
In marble by some great Italian hand 

In the days when she and Italy sat on one throne together. 
— And so I left her to her prayers, and went 
To gaze upon the pride of Monza's shrine, 
Where in the sacristy the light still falls 
Upon the Iron Crown of Italy." 

D. G. RossettVs "A Last Confession" 

Westward, — to that last confine of Venice, that boundary 
of patrician ambitions and Visconti hopes, — the Adda. Ber- 
gamo lay behind now, upon her massy hilltops, gazing after 
me with her receding walls and domes and ancient towers, 
— a picture to stay forever in the mind. Around me 
stretched the smiling plain, radiant with the varying em- 
erald tints of the far stretching fields of wheat and maize, 
of the vineyards, the orchards, the rows of mulberry and 
poplar; but black as ever soared the lines of pointed cy- 
presses, and still in pearly grey extended the endless olive- 
groves along the hillsides. 

In this part of the plain wheat is really the principal 
crop, as the countless fields devoted to its growth bear wit- 
ness; over 150,000 bushels annually are said to be raised 
in the Milanese; but even at that, much more has to be 
imported, to fill the local demands for consumption. It is 

73 



74 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

another indication of the advancement of Milan and her 
surrounding territory over the rest of Lombardy and the 
mountain districts, vi^hich still cling so exclusively to the 
use of Indian corn, ground into polenta, that the vile 
pellagra remains nearly ever5rwhere prevalent, as I myself 
had found. That form of skin- or blood-disease — which 
is now^ believed to proceed, not so much from the unvaried 
eating of the corn, as from the careless consumption of that 
w^hich is mouldy and improperly dried, — has lately begun 
to extend its ravages into the southern United States. It 
has certainly been an accursed plague to Italy. 

When Bergamo had receded from sight, the train crossed 
the Bremba, several miles below the mouth of the valley, 
and ran slightly south of west, through the beautiful undu- 
lating section of the plain which forms the triangle between 
that stream and the Adda. Gentle elevations billowed away 
on both sides, delightfully checkered with vari-coloured fields, 
orchards and copses of wood, and shining with stuccoed 
villas and farm-houses; the hills upon the right mounted 
quickly to the rocky heights between the Val Brembana and 
Lago di Lecco, including the imposing form of Mt. Reseg- 
none, 6,ioo feet in height. Soon the Adda appeared, wide 
and impetuous, rolling southward the deep waters of Lakes 
Como and Lecco. We crossed it about ten miles south 
of the latter; and half a dozen miles below us, invisible on 
account of the river's windings, sat the great historic castle 
of Trezzo, commanding the rushing stream from its battle- 
mented point. Another time I should by all means journey 
to Monza by the tramway, which passes through Trezzo 
village and permits a visit to the castle. 

This huge structure, once so famed for its combination 
of strength and magnificence, now only a shattered ruin, 
was built by Bernabo Visconti during his lordship of the 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 75 

Milanese, — that wretched rule which " displayed all the 
worst vices of the Viscontl." ^ There, as at Milan and his 
other strongholds, he was wont to amuse himself by tor- 
turing his helpless subjects, seizing the excuse of any mere 
accusation of crime or enmity; he cut off their limbs, ears 
and noses, put out their eyes, racked, stretched, and finally 
killed them, — even on one certified occasion enjoyed himself 
by having a peasant, who was charged with killing a hare, 
eaten alive by his famished hounds. He liked to burn their 
houses, to watch the flames, and In his zeal even burned a 
number of holy friars who had come to try to bring him to 
repentance. 

Retribution came, however, upon that day of 1385 when 
Bernabo rode out of his capital to greet the passing nephew 
whom he despised and planned to put out of his way; Glan 
Galeazzo confined him at first In Milan, for a short time, 
and then, by a queer stroke of fate, In this very castle of 
Trezzo which he had bullded and turned to such devilish 
uses. But after a few miserable months he perished by 
poison, together with his sons. Gian Galeazzo went on his 
way of conquest, expelling from his cities all the Guelfic 
nobles, and those opposed to him for any reason. Amongst 
the many noble Guelfs exiled from Bergamo, was Pietro, of 
the ancient house of ColleonI; during his wanderings a son 
was born to him, in 1400, at Salza, — the youngest of his 
children, who was christened Bartolomeo. In 1405, during 
the confusion following Gian Galeazzo's decease, Pietro 
with an armed following seized suddenly, by stratagem, this 
same castle of Trezzo, and proceeded to make himself and his 
family at home In It. 

Then, as he was a generous man, he Invited four cousins 
to share his plenty; who soon repaid the obligation by 

1 Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 



76 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

slaughtering Pietro and his children, leaving alive only the. 
infant Bartolomeo and his mother, closely confined In a 
dungeon. Such was the rueful commencement of the great 
condottiere's life. The two were later removed to the 
near-by village of Salza, where he grew up in severest pov- 
erty until old enough to enter the profession of arms. A 
few years later, in 141 7, Carmagnola revenged the treachery 
by taking the castle from Paolo CoUeoni, after a brilliant 
siege. 

Across the Adda I was at last upon Milanese territory, 
which was here the level plain again, as far as the town 
of Usmate, five miles to the west; there a change would be 
necessary, — from the branch line to the main road that 
runs from Milan to Lecco, and up the lake's eastern side to 
the Valtelllna and Chlavenna. But before we had advanced 
a mile from the river, I was called to the right-hand window 
to observe a remarkable alteration in the scenery. This 
whole journey, in fact, is one happy sequence of varied land- 
scape and delightful views; and the scene which I now be- 
held was not only the most beautiful, — it was unforgetta- 
ble. 

North of the track extended the flat plain, for several 
miles, with few trees in the immediate vicinity to interrupt 
the view, which thus ranged out above the more distant 
woods to a far-spread panorama, entirely different from any 
I had yet beheld; there, beyond the level ground, stretched 
indefinitely to the west and northwest a wooded country of 
innumerable lovely hills, with broad, rounded tops and gently 
sloping sides, — knolls rather than hills, short but astonish- 
ingly close together, arranged In no lines nor conformations, 
divided by no broad valleys, studding the land like the 
countless bolt-heads on a mediaeval door. Another remark- 
able fact was the evenness of their height, no summit rising 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 77 

to obscure a view of those behind it. The endless dark 
woods were set off and contrasted by light green pastures 
here and there, and occasional slopes brightly checkered by 
cultivation; faint streaks of glistening silver marked the 
presence of lakes and rivers; and everjrwhere in the sombre 
foliage, from nearly every hilltop, gleamed afar the white 
walls of villas, — the finishing touch of human interest that 
made the scene enchanting. Not a town nor a village was 
visible, — only these numberless country-houses, peeping one 
by one from the umbrageous verdure with flashing wall or 
red-tiled roof, or raising grey battlemented towers above the 
tree-tops, that marked the sites of the more ancient castles. 

No less astonishing was the vast extent of this landscape: 
on and on it stretched, in beautiful, orderless series of dark, 
rounded heights, forest- and villa-crowned, league after 
league, the summits dwindling on the far western perspective, 
the curving flanks merging in the haze of distance, — till it 
seemed that I must be overlooking a full hundred miles of 
country. On the north the boundary of the Alpine wall 
was nearer, — the peaks around Lake Como, looming bare 
and rocky, a score of miles away; but farther to the west, 
beyond that indefinite vista of hills and woods, from the 
haze in which it ended there rose a sight so magnificent, so 
breathless, that the beauty of the countryside dropped in- 
significant from my mind. 

A stupendous mountain-chain hung there in the upper 
air, its mighty form glittering with dazzling eternal snow, 
its pinnacles scintillating against the sky of deepest blue. 
Never had I beheld an object more lovely and yet more ter- 
rible. Vast as it appeared, — its tremendous height indi- 
cated by the extent of the gleaming snow, which seemed to 
rise from the very foot, up miles of precipices and aretes, — 
it was really a hundred miles away, beyond Lago Maggiore, 



78 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

on the borderline of western Switzerland. It was Italy's 
loftiest chain, the second in all Europe, — Monte Rosa. 
And this wide expanse of charming hill country, with its 
woods and lakes and glistening villas, so different from any- 
thing else in Italy, — was the celebrated Monte Brianza. 

" How faintly flashed, how phantom fair 
Was Monte Rosa, hanging there, — 
A thousand shadowy pencilled valleys 
And snowy dells in a golden air ! " ^ 

The district of Brianza extends from the triangle between 
Lakes Como and Lecco, southward halfway to Milan; it 
is the great summer playground of Milan and its territories, 
— famed, not only for its natural beauties, but for containing 
what is doubtless the most numerous assortment of country- 
houses of any space of equal size in the world. It is one 
huge park, divided mostly into the private grounds of villas, 
— thousands upon thousands of them, as I had seen, with 
their gardens, terraces, groves, pavilions and pergolas. Half 
a dozen small lakes add to the attractiveness of the dashing 
streams, the sequestered vales, and the wooded hills crowned 
with their chateaus, commanding ever delightful views. 
" Nowhere," as Mr. Richard Bagot has well said, " perhaps 
in the whole of Italy, is there to be found more idyllic 
scenery than in the Lombard paradise." ^ It is a paradise 
however, that is seldom, if ever, seen by foreigners, except 
the few occasionally invited to share some villeggiatura. 
But, unfortunately, there is a discordant note for the beauty- 
lover. Too many of the villas are comparatively recent in 
construction, displaying therefore upon closer view the un- 
fortunate taste of the modern Milanese, with grounds mal- 

2 Tennyson's " The Daisy." 

3 Richard Bagot's "The Lakes of Northern Italy." 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 79 

treated by being deprived of shade immediately about the 
house, and distorted with unsuitable adornments. 

Lady Morgan has clearly expressed this: — "The neigh- 
bourhood of Milan abounds with villas, few of which bear 
any resemblance to tHe seats of the English nobility. They 
are more places of temporary retreat, or casual recreation, 
than of a permanent or periodical residence. The nobility 
go regularly at St. Martin's Eve, in November, to settle 
with their tenants, and frequently stay still Christmas. 
Their other visits to the country are few and distant, and 
their villeggiature last but a few days. — There were for- 
merly no local ties to attach the Italians to rural life. They 
had no love of gardening; they did not plant, nor farm, 
nor ornament. They built, indeed, extravagantly, but never 
completed; generally speaking, their vast and desolate villas 
shew a mixture of ruin and neglect, that forms a most gloomy 
and dreary picture. Terraces, balustrades, colonnades, pa- 
vilions, courts, fortifications, towers, temples, and belvederes 
abound very generally; but green, fresh, delicious nature is 
almost everywhere excluded." * But it must be added that 
with the recent great increase of wealth, and constant follow- 
ing of English ideas, the estates have steadily improved in 
appearance; though the newer villas are hideous, there is 
increasing effort to beautify naturally the parks and gardens, 
and to adapt the owners themselves to country life. 

Baretti gives an interesting picture of this rural existence 
in the i8th century, — ^when it was at the height of fash- 
ion, before revolutionary times : " The Milanese — generally 
pass the greater part of the summer and the whole autumn 
in the country ; — Monte di Brianza, where their country- 
houses chiefly lie, is in my opinion the most delightful in 

*That is, excluded from the immediate grounds. — Lady Morgan's 
" Italy," Vol. I. 



8o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

all Italy. — There they retire — and pass the time In a 
perpetual round of merriment, eating, drinking, dancing and 
visiting; and contributing small sums towards giving por- 
tions to the pretty wenches in the neighbourhood. — There 
the richest people have their cappucmas ; that is, a part of 
their country-houses built after the manner of a Capuchin 
convent, distributed into many small bedrooms, like cells, 
for the reception of their visitors, who are always welcome 
provided they come fully resolved to eat plentifully, to talk 
loudly, and be very merry." ^ 

That they had abundant need for this supply of small 
rooms is shown by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's experience 
in 1747, when she had but just settled in a rented villa: 
" I had a visit " — she wrote to the Countess of Bute — 
*' from thirty horse of ladies and gentlemen, with their serv- 
ants. They came with the kind intent of staying with me 
at least a fortnight, though I had never seen any of them 
before ; but they were all neighbours within ten miles around. 
I could not avoid entertaining them at supper. — I sent for 
the fiddles, and they were so obliging as to dance all night, 
and even dine with me the next day, though none of them 
had been in bed; and were much disappointed I did not ask 
them to stay. It being the fashion to go in troops to one an- 
other's houses, hunting and dancing together a month in each 
castle." ^ 

— At the station of Usmate I changed to the train from 
the north, and headed southwestward to Monza. The Bri- 
anza was soon left far behind, and I rolled again through the 
flat, thickly settled, and highly cultivated plain, whose villages 

5 Baretti's " Manners and Customs in Italy," Vol. II. 

6 The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, VoL 
II, edited by Lord Wharcliffe. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 8i 

and habitations became ever more numerous as we approached 
Milan. This was the Milanese proper, one of the few richest 
and most densely populated tracts of the earth's surface. 
The inhabitants, from their large proportion of Swiss and 
German blood, are quite different from the rest of Italians; 
they share the northern keen commercial spirit, being some- 
times called the Yankees of Italy. They are more Ingenious, 
resourceful, hard-working, orderly, advanced la knowledge 
and the applied sciences, and of more cleanly habits. What 
was said of them long ago still holds good: they " value them- 
selves upon their being de bon coeur — good-natured. They 
are commonly compared to the Germans for their honesty, 
to the French for fondness of pomp and elegance In equipages 
and household furniture ; and — they resemble likewise the 
English In their love of good eating, as well as In their talk- 
ing rather too long and too often about it." "^ Their Invari- 
ably genial nature, which Is still everywhere displayed to 
the grateful traveller, was noted also in the i8th century 
by Mrs. Plozzi, who write, '''II huon cuor Lombardo^ Is 
famed throughout all Italy, and nothing can become 
proverbial without an excellent reason." ^ 

My thoughts now roved to the little city which I was so 
rapidly approaching, — an elongated town of 13,000 people, 
stretching along the old highway from Milan to Usmate, 
some eight miles north of the metropolis. Monza Is of much 
antiquity, however, and had considerable Importance In the 
days of the Lombards; they erected her attractive Cathedral, 
and made It the depository of their Iron Crown, with which 
so many a monarch has been' crowned there during the past 
dozen centuries. Theodoric himself was attracted by Monza, 

'' Barettl's " Manners and Customs in Italy," Vol. 11. 

8 Mrs. Piozzi's "Glimpses of Italian Society in the i8th Century." 



82 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

and built a palace there to which he occasionally resorted. 
But it was Queen Theodolinda who identified herself with 
the place, and made it famous. 

This lady, it will be remembered, was the daughter of the 
Bavarian King Garibaldo who was wooed and won by An- 
tharis, King of the Lombards, while visiting their court in 
589, disguised in the train of his own ambassador. Though 
the marriage was terminated after a short time by the death 
of Antharis, so much already *' the virtues of Theodolinda 
had endeared her to the nation, — she was permitted to be- 
stow, with her hand, the sceptre of the Italian Kingdom." ® 
She wedded this time Agilulf, the Lombard Duke of Turin, 
who seems to have been a worthy choice ; they went to dwell 
at Monza, and Theodolinda converted her bridegroom and 
people from the Aryan to the Roman faith, which averted 
a threatened assault upon the Papacy. Grateful for this 
double success, the Queen set immediately about the erection 
of a thanksgiving offering, in the shape of a church to the 
Baptist; this was the first Cathedral of Monza, which she 
endowed with her famous collection of royal Lombard treas- 
ures. 

According to the legend, a heavenly voice spoke to Theodo- 
linda in her hour of meditation, saying that the church should 
be constructed on the spot where stood a single great tree; 
and it concluded with the Latin word, " Modo," — mean- 
ing, " In such manner." The Queen replied at once, 
"Etiam"; which was to say, "Even so will I do." The 
spot was found, the building commenced, and the place there- 
fore named " ModcEtia," which centuries have corrupted into 
Monza. — A second Cathedral was erected after several 
hundred years, in the romanesque style; and when that too 
became decayed and unsafe, in the 14th century, the third 

» Gibbon, Vol. IV, Chap. XLV. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 83 

and present structure was put up, In the Lombard gothic 
manner, by the same brilliant sculptor-architect, Matteo da 
Campione, who made the original plans for the mighty ca- 
thedral of Milan. Thus did Monza obtain one of the few 
most splendid gothic churches of Italy. 

In mediaeval and Renaissance times the little city had no 
distinctive career of Its own; for a time independent, then 
tyrannised by the Torricelli and Cavalazzi families, it became 
subject to Milan at an early age. The ViscontI acquired a 
palace-stronghold in Monza, the Forni, now disappeared, in 
which Galeazzo I, the eldest son of Matteo II Grande and 
third ruler of the line, constructed a suite of noisome dun- 
geons for their political prisoners ; and In those very dungeons 
he was himself soon after imprisoned, together with his 
brothers Lucchino and Stefano and his son Azzo, by the 
Emperor Louis of Bavaria, who acted thus as a result of the 
treacherous intrigues of a fourth brother, Marco ViscontI, In 
1327. They were released after eight months of misery, 
thanks to the Influence of the celebrated despot of Lucca, 
Castruccio Castracani. Galeazzo died the next year, and 
Azzo bought the Duchy of Milan back from the Emperor 
for 60,000 florins; after which. In 1329, he revenged himself 
and his father by the murder of Marco. — At Monza also, 
Fillppo Maria ViscontI fought the battle " by which he 
acquired his brother's inheritance, and the only battle in 
which he was ever present ; he remarked the brilliant courage 
of Francesco Carmagnola, a Pledmontese soldier of fortune, 
and Immediately gave him a command." ^^ This was the 
start of the latter's great career, which became eventually so 
disastrous to both Fillppo and himself. 

It was at Monza, according to Symonds, that Bartolomeo 
Colleoni was imprisoned by Fillppo in 1446. "The Duke 

10 Sismondi's " History of the Italian Republics," 



84 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

yielded to the suggestion of his parasites at Milan, who whis- 
pered that the general was becoming dangerously powerful. 
He recalled him, and threw him without trial into the dun- 
geons of the Forni at Monza. Here Colleoni remained a 
prisoner more than a year, until the Duke's death, in 
1447." ^^ Just about this same time, in 1444, the only 
Renaissance painter of merit to whom the city gave birth, 
Troso da Monza, was executing various frescoes of the life 
of Theodolinda in the Cathedral of S. Giovanni Battista, 
which are still to be seen. 

When my train drew into the long, covered shed of the 
station, shortly before noon, there was upon every hand a 
crowd, a bustle, a confusion of business, such as one finds only 
in the vicinity of a great city, and which seemed to indicate 
that Monza must be growing rapidly above the small size of 
13,000 population. Emerging, I found myself upon the old 
highway from Milan to the north — which forms the long 
main street of the city, — and fully a mile to the south of 
the latter's centre. Three- and four-storied, stuccoed build- 
ings of very modern look lined the way, their ground floors 
occupied by shops and cafes; electric double-decked tram- 
cars from the metropolis whirled by every few minutes; and 
throngs of hurrying vehicles and pedestrians filled the rest of 
the thoroughfare. 

What a contrast was this from sleepy, retired old Bergamo 
on its ancient hilltop; I felt as if I had suddenly stepped into 
the modern riot of Paris or London. Led by a facchino 
carrying my bag, I walked a block or two to the north, to 
what I was assured was the principal other go; though occu- 
pying a new building, it proved to be in arrangements and 
service in no way superior to any little inn of the most rural 

11 Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 85 

place. But I was given a well-furnished bedroom, and a fair 
lunch; then started northward again, by tramcar. 

A mile was quickly passed, and the car came to its terminal 
stop in a fair-sized piazza surrounded by buildings several 
centuries old, with its centre occupied by a picturesque edifice 
of the trecento; this was entirely raised upon high pointed 
archways, two in breadth and five in length, which con- 
stituted a remarkable open loggia. The material was un- 
plastered brick, except for the quadrangular stone piers. The 
single upper story was capped by a gabled roof ; it held upon 
the southern face two fine old romanesque windows, double- 
arched, with marble shafts, and between them the original 
massive, stone ringhiera-hsilcony, crowned by a canopy. Each 
side was happily adorned with five similar romanesque win- 
dows, regular and pleasing; the brick voussoirs of their en- 
closing arches, as well as those of the loggia, were inter- 
spaced with three or five marble blocks, in the delightful old 
Lombard fashion. Upon the eastern side rose the heavy 
municipal tower, likewise of brick, to a belfry of double, 
pointed arches. This fascinating structure was, of course, 
the Municipio, known also as Palazzo Arengario; and the 
square was the Piazza Roma, the original market-place of 
the town. 

Close by on the southeast I found the Cathedral, rising 
upon the east side of a considerably larger piazza, that was 
surrounded only by simple dwelling-houses, and lay quiet 
and deserted in the midday heat. The space was well paved 
in brick, with checker-board lines of white stone, in the medi- 
aeval manner; and before the church rose a singular renais- 
sance monument, consisting of twin ionic marble columns, 
tall and slender, upon a six-foot pedestal, capped by a frag- 
ment of entablature, with a wooden crucifix at the apex. — But 



86 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

that which dazzled my eyes Immediately upon entering 
the place, paling all else to insignificance and absorbing my 
amazed attention, was the extraordinary, brilliantly coloured 
fagade of the Cathedral, which seemed at first one mighty 
riot of gay hues, soaring spires, and beautiful gothic decora- 
tion. 

It was the new fagade, put up In 1 899-1901, but in the 
original design of Matteo Campione, fashioned entirely of 
broad stripes of white and dark grey marbles, — much like the 
rich Tuscan gothic of the cathedrals of Florence and Siena. 
It gleamed in the bright sunshine from every varied wall-sur- 
face, and glistened from the multitudinous carvings of its win- 
dows, cornices, and portal, with a glorious effect, the more as- 
tonishing because so unexpected. Only one who has wandered 
long among stuccoed renaissance and vile rococo, with their 
everlasting sameness, can realise the joy with which I sud- 
denly confronted this great temple of brightest marble and 
delicate aspiring lines; even the critical Street was obliged 
to confess it, " a very fine example of Italian gothic." ^- 

Six broad pilaster-strips in Lombard style, simulating but- 
tresses and capped by spires, divided the face into five com- 
partments, the central containing the single portal and rose 
window. The square doorway and its decorated lunette 
were deeply recessed, with gothic mouldings, and covered by 
a handsome porch upheld on slender red marble columns ; the 
round arch of the latter was adorned with rich pendant 
cusps. Its spandrels embellished with open medallions, con- 
taining half-figures of saints, and around Its top ran an 
exquisite parapet of small gables and pinnacles. The frame 
of the huge rose window consisted of a series of square coffers, 
and a blind arcade of round arches. The two outer compart- 
ments of the fagade held each a recessed, double, gothic win- 

12 Street's " Brick and Marble Architecture of the Middle Ages." 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 87 

dow, with a little round opening above it, in a square frame ; 
the compartments flanking the central division contained 
each a beautiful triple gothic window, with fine marble 
mullions and tracery, a double round-arched window over- 
head — more like renaissance work — and another little 
round aperture, like a tiny rose window, at the top. 

Between the spires of the buttresses — which consisted, at 
the corners, of two delightful, dainty, gothic canopies, en- 
closing statues — the gabled eaves sloped upward in suc- 
cessive steps; they were underlined by a charming, arcaded, 
white marble cornice — of trefoil arches upon long slim 
shafts; they carried rows of heavy white crockets, and ter- 
minated at the apex in another pinnacled canopy, which was 
" certainly very beautiful, of precisely the same type as the 
pinnacles on some of the tombs of the Scaligers at Verona." ^^^ 
The chief effect, however, lay in the graceful porch and the 
large mass of carvings around and above the rose window. 
It had little of the regularity of northern gothic, — the low- 
est row of windows, for instance, was not upon the same 
level, but sloped upward with the eaves; and, like true 
Lombard forms, its height was entirely incommensurate with 
its breadth. The pleasure which it conferred came from 
the colouring and the details rather than the mass. — Adjacent 
upon the left, in utter want of harmony, rose the heavy, 
square, stuccoed, renaissance campanile^ bearing a painted 
clock-face, lifting to twice the height of the church its ugly 
domed belfry of rococo design; this was added much later, 
about 1600. 

" All the remainder of the Duomo is of red brick, with some 
particularly good detail. — There is a large, low cloister on 
the north side, and from this the central tower (over the in- 
tersection of nave and transepts) is best seen; it is of two 

12a Street's " Brick and Marble Architecture of the Middle Ages." 



88 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

stages, In brick and stone, a good deal arcaded, and has a 
pyramidal tiled roof, with a square turret in the centre. 
This forms a dome internally (in the Lombard romanesque 
manner) which is, however, — as Is the whole church — 
miserably modernised." ^^ All of the interior was renovated 
in the execrable baroque style, during the 1 8th century. 

I approached to examine the attractive portal more closely. 
The relief in the lunette was clearly of the period of the 
church's construction — the trecento — and was not only, 
therefore, quaintly primitive, but also happened to be unusu- 
ally excellent in the grouping and modelling of Its many 
figures, which were arranged in two separate dramatic tab- 
leaux, of much expressiveness and grace. The lower repre- 
sented the Baptism of Christ; originality was shown In the 
manner of Its performance, — the holy water being poured 
upon the Saviour from a vessel In the beak of the Dove of 
the Holy Spirit, — while an angel held the garments, and the 
Virgin with the Baptist and Sts. Peter and Paul stood grouped 
around. Campione himself must have executed these reliefs. 

The upper tableau was an apotheosis of St. John and 
Queen Theodolinda, the latter being shown In the act of 
offering a jewelled crown to the Baptist, surrounded by her 
second husband Agilulf, her daughter Gundiberga, and her 
son Adaloaldo, who held a dove ; while round about appeared 
several others of the famous treasures which Theodolinda 
bestowed upon this Cathedral of the Saint. These last were 
especially Interesting to me, depicted here so long ago, demon- 
strating that they had then the same renown which they 
enjoy today; for they form the greatest collection of Lom- 
bard valuables in the world, as I have hereinbefore indicated, 
and are the chief Inducement for a visit to Monza. Like the 
preservation of St. Peltrude's chapel at CIvidale, by the en- 

13 Street's " Brick and Marble Architecture of the Middle Ages." 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 89 

closing nunnery, during a thousand years, so these artistic 
treasures, displaying the powers of the Lombards as gold- 
smiths, have luckily been kept safe and together through the 
piety of Theodolinda, In the ever guarded treasury of the 
Duomo. * 

Though prepared for baroque horrors of renovation, on 
my entrance to the nave I was greeted by another disap- 
pointment : the roof was so low as to have a crushing, dwarf- 
ing effect, and all the other dimensions seemed likewise 
too small; while the whole of the wall-spaces was com- 
pletely covered with hideous decadent frescoes, whose dis- 
gusting forms flourished also over the vaulting, the choir, 
the transepts, the walls and ceilings of the aisles, and even 
the side chapels. It was exceptionally dark, almost the only 
light entering from the rose window and a few scattered 
small ones; but the darkness could not hide the disfigure- 
ments. 

Low as was the nave, the aisles were much lower, flanked 
by chapels lower still, which were moderately deep, and en- 
* tered by round arches in the stuccoed, painted walls. The 
columns fortunately were untouched, — the original, roman- 
esque, octagonal stone pillars, having capitals composed of 
grotesque forms of animals and human beings. Directly 
above them extended two rows of large decadent paintings 
on canvas. The pavement was good, — tessellated in grey 
and white marbles; and the dome lent a certain dignity to 
the choir. 

The visitor's pleasure in this building must be drawn 
from the few decorations of the earlier Renaissance. I saw 
one of them Immediately to left of the entrance, a Ma- 
donna and Child painted upon silk, with no background nor 
accessories, simply but effectively coloured, and the flesh 
prettily rounded. A lamp burned golden beside it In the 



go LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

dusk, and a woman knelt to It In humble prayer. In the 
first chapel to the left stood the baptismal font, a small, 
handsome renaissance structure of coloured marbles, — the 
base white, the columns grey with white caps, forming an 
open octagon, with a red cornice and white dome. In the 
second chapel was a Visitation by Guercino, on canvas, 
mostly darkened, except for the Madonna's red robes, and 
showing an earnest but unsuccessful attempt to be realistic 
in the setting. 

The last two pillars on each side were round, and before 
them projected twin gilt music-lofts, thus unusually prom- 
inent and out of place. The frescoes on the end wall of the 
left transept surpassed all the others in horror, their fearful 
giant figures being supposed to represent scenes from the 
Baptist's life ; but beneath them I noticed an engaging marble 
relief of the Madonna's head; and in the adjacent chapel to 
left of the choir were gathered the most interesting and pleas- 
ing objects of the church proper, — including the paintings 
of Troso da Monza, spread over all three walls. By some 
critics these have been ascribed to the brothers Zavattari. 
They are scenes from the life of Queen Theodolinda, espe- 
cially the story of the building of the Cathedral, — in the 
restricted manner of the Giottesque school, and considerably 
damaged. 

" It is not easy to follow his Inventions, somewhat confused 
and new in regard to the drapery and the Longobardish cus- 
toms which he has here exhibited. There are some good 
heads, and colouring by no means despicable; for the rest, 
it is a mediocre production, and perhaps executed early in 
life. He is an artist much praised by Tomazzo for his other 
works which he left at the Palazzo Landi." ^* 

Quite in accordance with this decoration, the tomb of 

n* Lanzi's " History of Painting," Vol. II. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 91 

Theodolinda rested here, against the back-wall; but It was 
surprisingly plain, — a simple, unadorned, stone sarcophagus, 
with a gabled cover and upright corners, upheld by four 
small columns with rounded foliage-caps. This Indication 
of the gothic was explained by the sacristan's statement that 
it was a 14th century work, to which the remains had been 
transferred when the present Duomo was erected. There 
can be nothing left of them now, unless It be a little dust; 
yet it was affecting to think of the royal state and labours, 
the admirable Christian character, which that dust had sus- 
tained so long ago; and now I was to see the very treasures 
which it had lovingly handled, and bestowed upon this same 
church (at least the same In Its foundations), still unaltered, 
undiminished, from the day It gave them. How unjust It 
seems (a trite thought, yet here unavoidable) that inanimate 
objects should so indefinitely survive the person that made 
them. 

The greatest object of this chapel yet remains to be men- 
tioned, — the object that made Monza famous for a thou- 
sand years : within the simple altar, enclosed in two successive 
strong boxes, locked with many separate keys, reposes the 
Iron Crown of Lombardy! It is shown to the people but 
once a year, upon a certain festUj and at all other times can 
be seen only by the payment of 5 lire to the verger. As far 
as concerns the ascertaining of Its appearance, however, that 
disbursement Is unnecessary; for above the altar, within the 
glass-covered centre of a large cross, hangs an exact duplicate 
of this historic treasure, even to the attached pendant cross 
which was worn by the Lombard kings upon the breast. 
Since one is not permitted to handle the original, an Inspec- 
tion of this duplicate is fully as informing; still it does not 
convey the thrill, the upsurging of crowded recollections, 
which are started by the first sight of that simple band of 



92 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

gold and iron, which so many monarchs placed upon their 
brows, and for which such numberless lives were sacrificed 
during a whole millennium. 

Many of the visitors are astonished that they behold no 
iron at all — only a circlet of gold, moderately adorned with 
upright points and jewels; but on looking at the inside, a fine 
dark line of the baser metal is observed, forming a slender ring 
within the band. This was beaten from what the Lombard 
kings believed to be a nail of the true cross, which was ac- 
quired by Theodolinda, and esteemed by her successors be- 
yond all other relics. St. Helena, the mother of Constan- 
tine the Great, who discovered the cross buried underground, 
according to the legend, sent some of its nails to her imperial 
son; and it was one of these that finally descended to Queen 
Theodolinda, whose successors beat it into the circlet form. 
From the crown's long use in the royal Lombard corona- 
tions here at Monza, came the general feeling that it was 
inseparable from the sway of Italy, and that whatsoever bore 
it had a sanctified right to the Italian kingdom. " When 
the dynasty — fell in the person of Desiderius, and the Iron 
Crown of Lombardy for the first time encircled the brow of 
a foreign visitor, — Charlemagne, who had won it at the 
head of his Franks, affected to receive it at the hands of the 
Roman Pontiff." ^^ That was the ceremony of Christmas 
Day, in the year 8oo, at Rome. 

Later the " north and south of Italy were alike claimed 
by the German kaiser, who, as inheritor of Charlemagne's 
empire, called all men his vassals and made them such if he 
were able. The old and fixed German idea was that to the 
successor of the great Charles belonged the Iron Crown of 
Monza, — the homage, the lands, and the money of their 

15 Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. I. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 93 

Italian subjects." ^® And alas, what a river of life-blood 
was poured out by the two Fredericks, and their successors, 
to make that claim acknowledged. When they had at last 
failed, French and Spanish sovereigns fought over this same 
crown upon the blood-soaked plain, until Charles V emerged 
as conqueror; and it was at Bologna in 1530 that he received 
it upon his brow, as King of Italy, from the hands of the 
treacherous Medicean Pope. 

To the Spaniards succeeded the avaricious Austrians, — 
whose monarchs thought more of the Iron Crown than of 
the sway of their northern Empire, who spent their lives and 
fortunes in struggling to preserve it, and indulged in great 
ceremonies of coronation to demonstrate their ownership of 
Lombardy. Last, and perhaps most interesting of all, came 
that wonderful self-made ruler who loosened the German 
grip, and constituted Italy the first star in his galaxy of 
kingdoms: Napoleon, Emperor of Europe, Italian in blood 
and secret sympathies, who experienced the greatest of all 
his joys when he pompously assumed the cherished tiara of 
so many conquerors and races. 

" When Napoleon resolved on crowning himself with the 
most ancient of feudal diadems, he gave to the ceremony all 
the splendour, and all the imposition, of which it was suscepti- 
ble. His journey to Milan was like the triumph of a Ro- 
man Emperor. — The procession which conveyed the crown 
from Monza was singular ; it was led by a guard of honour on 
horseback, — a corps of the Italian guards ; a carriage con- 
tained the municipality of Monza ; another followed with the 
workmen employed to remove the crown; the canons, the 
syndic, and the arciprete of the Cathedral of Monza suc- 
ceeded ; and last came a carriage with the Master of Cere- 

16 Blashfield's "Italian Cities," Vol. II. 



94 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

monies of the Imperial Court, bearing the crown on a velvet 
cushion. Twenty-five of Bonaparte's Old Guard surrounded 
the honoured vehicle. The crown was received in Milan 
with a salvo of artillery, and the ringing of bells, and at the 
portal of the Cathedral, by the Cardinal Archbishop of 
Milan, who bore it through the church, and deposited it on 
the altar. The guards watched round it during the 
night." " 

At the climax of the stupendous ceremony next day, wit- 
nessed by all the highest dignitaries of Italy in gala dress, 
" Napoleon received from the Archbishop's hands the sword, 
the cloak, and the ring, but he took himself the Iron Crown 
from the altar, and proudly placing it upon his head, ex- 
claimed in a voice that thrilled all present: ^ Dio me la 
diede; guai a chi la tocca! ' ^* ^^ Thus did he who never could 
brook the thought of an equal, assert his self-made superiority 
to all his predecessors, that had invariably received the dia- 
dem from the Pope. 

Formerly, in Austrian days, it was much more difficult 
to inspect the original crown, which was then kept where the 
copy now hangs but hidden from view. Lady Morgan 
speaks entertainingly of her experience with their " red- 
tape " methods : " To obtain permission to inspect this 
relic was a matter of interest and time. — The order was 
signed by the Grand Duke and countersigned by the Gov- 
ernor of Milan; and it was despatched the night before our 
visit to the Chapter of Monza. — The canon who conducted 
us — retired to robe for the ceremony, and returned in grand 
pontic alihus , preceded by a priest with a torch, and some 
coric'i in their white, short surplices. When they arrived 

17 Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. I. 

18 " God gave it me ; woe to him who touches it." — Imbert de 
Saint Armand's " The Court of the Empress Josephine." 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 95 

before the shrine of the Iron Crown, — the priests fell pros- 
trate; the sacristan placed a ladder against the cross, ascended, 
opened the shrine, and displayed the treasure in the blaze 
of the torch-lights; the priests below filled the air with vol- 
umes of odorous vapours, flung from silver censers, and noth- 
ing was visible but the blazing jewels, illuminated by the 
torch, and the white drapery of the sacristan, who seemed 
suspended in mid-air." 

Upon the wall of the left transept I noticed several curious 
representations of the crown in coloured bas-reliefs, showing 
the slender black iron circlet within, with underwritten 
statements concerning the last three coronations at which it 
was used. On the right wall of the south transept is another 
curious, early relief, representing the coronation here of the 
Emperor Otho III: the six electors of the Empire stand 
beside him, the first of them, the Count of Saxony, holding 
the imperial sword; while to left upon the altar appear 
some of the gifts of Theodolinda to the Duomo. This was 
the more interesting because Matteo da Campione himself 
is said to have been the sculptor. Near it was frescoed a 
still stranger, enormous Crucifixion, with the cross depicted 
as the branching tree of the Church. 

Two later paintings adorned the faces of the pillars flank- 
ing the entrance to the choir, single life-size figures of the 
ctnquecento, — a St. Joseph by C. Proccacini, and a S. Gher- 
ardo by Luini, the latter being a work of considerable beauty. 
On the ornate marble balustrade between them I noticed, 
embossed, the queer emblem of Theodolinda, a hen with 
seven chicks, — the little ones representing the seven provinces 
of her kingdom. Within the high-altar, shown on the first 
Sunday of September only (together with the Iron Crown) 
is kept the celebrated Paliotto which King Berengarius gave 
to the Cathedral, — a plate of gilded silver, graved and em- 



96 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

bossed, representing in seventeen scenes the principal facts 
of the Baptist's life; It is also inset with a large number of 
precious stones, and otherwise elaborately decorated. 

I returned to the left transept, and through the adjacent 
sacristy entered the windowless cabinet which constitutes the 
Cathedral's treasury. It is an octagonal room, with a huge 
cupboard occupying every side except that of the doorway. 
Their double wooden doors, very heavy and some fifteen feet 
high, were locked at the top, middle and bottom with large 
keys, and further secured by iron bars thrust through outer 
grooves, and also locked. The agreeable, well-informed 
verger had a hard task in the simple opening of all these; 
but when they were opened, the dazzling sight that burst 
upon me — gleaming gold, shining silver, glistening statues 
and reliefs, coruscating gems of every species, row upon row 
and case after case, scintillating innumerable like the spoil 
of ancient Rome, glowing with artistic beauties still more 
invaluable, — for awhile in truth overwhelmed me with won- 
der and admiration. I had seen many a cathedral treasury, 
many a museum's thesaurus, many a store of royal jewels, — 
but never anything approaching this, in amount, variety, or 
historical and artistic value. 

Crosses, cups, vases, medallions, chalices, monstrances, 
pyxes, crucifixes, statuettes, lamps, candelabra, platters, 
mitres, coffers, goblets, ewers, urns, epergnes, reliquaries, 
vessels of every shape and size, all glittering in gold or sil- 
ver, embossed, engraved, perforated, damascened, intagliated, 
relieved sumptuously with figures and designs, and in large 
part set with iridescent gems, cymophanous or prismatic as 
the changing hues of the chameleon, — they were of every size 
and nature, of every make and manner, of every epoch since 
Roman days, from Theodolinda's gifts of the 5th and 6th 
centuries through all the Middle Ages, to the latest Renais- 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 97 

sance. And not only goldsmith's work was here; I saw 
diptychs and other reliquaries of the most precious ivory 
carving, delicate ancient glassware, dainty terra-cotta, valua- 
ble papyrus, oriental silks and other cloths, exquisite leather- 
work, ceramics of varied nature, etc., — the few of less in- 
trinsic worth being venerated for their historical associa- 
tions. 

Several of the cases were entirely filled with the vases, 
urns, candelabra, and other objects of large size, a great many 
of them standing two and three feet high, — of solid silver, 
decorated with engravings and reliefs. The central case, 
and the second upon the left, were devoted to the smaller 
and more precious articles. In the latter — to mention a 
few of those most noteworthy — I observed three splendid 
crosses of gold, covered with sparkling gems of inestimable 
worth: one of the 6th century, with five golden pendants, 
which hung from the crown of King Agilulf; another, the 
" Croce del Regno!' which was worn with the Iron Crown, 
distinguished by a beautiful amethyst with an intagliated 
figure of Diana, that was given to Theodollnda by St. Greg- 
ory; the third, a pectoral cross of the 7th century, given by 
St. Gregory to the Queen's son Adaloaldo, upon which the 
Crucifixion is executed in niello. In the same cupboard 
stood Theodolinda's own crown, glistening with large jewels 
set in Lombard style; her original emblem of the hen and 
seven chicks, of gilded silver with gems for eyes; her famous 
Sapphire Cup, said to have been cut from a single stone, the 
largest sapphire In the world, and supported by a chiselled 
gold chalice of the quattrocento ; her filagreed gold reliquary, 
alleged to contain some teeth and other portions of St. John 
the Baptist, its face adorned with a great many jewels; and 
a magnificent large trecento goblet of enamelled gilt silver, 
embellished with many little figures of saints, which formerly 



98 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

belonged to Gian Galeazzo ViscontI, as is indicated by his 
arms upon it. There were also many other precious gifts of 
Theodolinda. 

Amongst the countless treasures of the central case I ob- 
served but a few ancient pieces, — a 6th century, Greek, 
terra-cotta medallion, and some ivory diptychs of the 5th 
to the 7th century, one of which represented Galla Placidia 
with her son Valentinian III and the brilliant general Actius 
whom he slew.^^ The rest were Renaissance works, includ- 
ing five beautiful ivory carvings of the 14th to the 17th cen- 
tury, both French and Italian, an exquisite patena of silver- 
gilt, engraved with a Madonna and Child, dated 1807, a 
large pyx of gilded brass, of the seicento, and three exquisite 
chalices of that and the succeeding century, of silver-gilt, 
copper, and copper-gilt, handsomely adorned with sculpture 
and precious stones. 

Upon the right were chiefly large pieces, — prominent 
among them, a great crucifix carrying a golden Christ, both 
the sides brilliantly relieved with dramatic scenes from the 
lives of the Baptist and St. Gherardo, — a 17th century work. 
Here also were sumptuous silver episcopal croziers, beau- 
tiful silver candelabra with gilt trimmings, and pompous 
monstrances with glistening golden rays and joci of pearls 
and garnets. One monstrance in the third case on the' left, 
an immense one, was heavily gilded and blazed with the 
fires of 1270 precious stones; and two mitres in the first case 
were almost solid masses of gold and varied jewellery, — 
Sicilian handiwork of the 13th century. What interested me 
even more was the little worn breviary lying beside them, 
looking incongruously simple and poor, which was once the 
pocket-companion of the noble Saint Carlo Borromeo. 

^^ Fide "Plain-Towns of Italy": the chapters on Brescia, with 
account of the Cross of Galla Placidia, and of her life. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 99 

As I gazed at these incredible masses of precious stones, — 
especially those of Theodolinda and the earlier ages, which 
are larger and purer, and scattered profusely in the 
crude Lombard settings as one would throw pebbles upon 
the ground, — again that feeling of the infinite wealth of 
ancient Rome came upon me, which had arisen when I be- 
held the single cross of Galla Placidia at Brescia; but it 
was tenfold stronger here, where glittered the riches of a 
kingdom. Most of these jewels were Roman once, without 
a doubt, beginning with those of Theodolinda and the Lom- 
bards, which they had but just seized from the hands of 
Gothic spoilers. The picture of the Imperial City in her 
full pride of majesty and splendour rose before my mental 
eye: those miles of stately forums, porticoes, temples, basil- 
icas, baths, palaces, — those hundreds of miles of majestic 
avenues, those thousands of statues, hundreds of thousands 
of columns, millions of people; then the awful horror of the 
inrushing barbaric hosts, savage, uncouth, dressed in skins 
and iron, ravaging like bestial madmen amongst what they 
could not comprehend, pillaging, destroying, applying the 
ruthless torch; and of all that peerless grandeur, from those 
scenes the most heart-rending of earth's history, now there 
remain to us only a few broken marbles in Rome, and these 
precious stones, scattered through the treasuries of Europe, 
I thought of Gibbon's description of the first sack, made by 
Alaric and his Visigoths in 410. 

'' In the pillage — a just preference was given to gold and 
jewels — but after these portable riches had been removed 
by the most diligent robbers, the palaces of Rome were rudely 
stripped of their splendid and costly furniture. The side- 
boards of massy plate, and the variegated wardrobes of silk 
and purple, were irregularly piled in the wagons, that always 
followed the march of a Gothic army. The most delicate 



loo LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

works of art were roughly handled, or wantonly destroyed; 
many a statue was melted for the sake of the precious ma- 
terials; and many a vase, in the division of the spoil, was 
shivered into fragments by the stroke of a battle-axe." ^^ 

— The verger next led me through a doorway in the left 
aisle, adjacent to the transept, into an. open passage or sort of 
little court upon which the sacristy-window looked, — also 
the three windows of the Archivio above it, having gothic 
trecento frames very beautifully ornamented in terracotta. 
Opposite these another doorway and a corridor admitted us 
to a small ancient cloister, once used as a cemetery, now 
deserted and decaying. In the wall of its west corridor the 
verger unlocked and swung open a concealed door, revealing 
to my startled gaze a complete skeleton covered with its 
shrunken flesh, standing upright before me, fastened to the 
back of a narrow closet with a glass face ; though its left foot 
and ankle were in place, the leg-bones had been violently 
severed just above the ankle, showing the evident cause of the 
unfortunate's disease. It was a tall frame, nearly six feet 
in height ; and all the parts were so well preserved that it did 
not seem possible it could be five centuries old, — considering 
the mediaeval ignorance of embalming. 

Yet so it was ; for this grisly relic was once Prince Ettore 
Visconti, the cousin of Filippo Maria, who was distinguished 
from the rest of that family by his physical bravery and 
prowess as a warrior. In the struggle for Gian Galeazzo's 
principalities after the latter's death, Ettore had his foot 
taken off during the battle near Monza by one of those 
rounded stone balls shot from the primitive bombards of the 
time ; as he was young and strong this would today have cost 
him merely a limb, but in their quattrocento ignorance he was 
permitted to bleed to death. The body was found here not 

20 Gibbon, Vol. Ill, Chap. XXXI. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN loi 

very long ago, amongst the remains of a broken coffin burled 
in sand, which seems to have acted as a preservative. Its 
tallness was a characteristic of the VIscontI family, — as I 
noticed again, a few months later, In the sculptured Image 
of Glan Galeazzo at the Certosa. 

I walked back to my hotel, along the principal thorough- 
fare, whose modern plastered buildings, busy shops, hurry- 
ing throngs and clanging tramcars, produced more than before 
upon me the impression of ugliness and vulgarity. Amidst 
all this, when I had passed several blocks, there rose upon the 
left, in strange incongruity, an old gothic church-fagade 
of the trecento, — one of those charming Lombard edifices of 
brick and terracotta, disfigured by no paint nor stucco, which 
so Indefinitely preserve their fresh appearance. It possessed 
the quaint cognomen of S. Maria in Istrada, or St. Mary in 
the Street ; and its front, though not large nor Imposing, was 
beautiful as a piece of Florentine mosaic, — the reddish 
brick being daintily relieved by the mass of lighter cotta 
decoration. Whosoever would build a brick church today 
would do well to carefully study this exquisite, renowned 
design, a perfect specimen of its class. 

In the first story there was but a central, recessed, gothic 
portal, Its cotta mouldings enclosed by a frame of square 
cotta plaques with relieved designs ; above this opened a most 
lovely and delicately formed rose window, with very pleas- 
ing double pointed windows at the sides, having marble 
shafts,- — all three surrounded by rectangular frames of the 
relieved plaques; in the third story was a central gothic 
niche holding a statue of the Madonna, with a circular aper- 
ture at each side open to the sky behind, and recessed with 
many mouldings; these last should open Into the nave, but 
it Is too low; finally there came the crowning gothic frieze 
and cornice^ also gf terracotta, and the most beautiful fac- 



102 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

tors of It all. The interior Is modernised and uninteresting. 
— From this spot to the hotel it was but another ten min- 
utes' walk, which was covered in ample time for a little rest 
before dinner. 

The next morning, after making due inquiry, I again took 
a passing tramcar bound northward, but this time one of 
those which continue through the central Piazza Roma, and 
some three-quarters of a mile beyond, and which are marked 
by the sign " Castello Reale" The car was a genuine 
" double-decker " of the Parisian style, immense and heavy, 
the upper floor also roofed, and surmounted by the conti- 
nental hoop-like trolleys. Below were separate compart- 
ments for the first and second classes; and above, reached 
by winding steps at each end, was an open extent of un.- 
cushloned wooden seats for the lower class. With this enor- 
mous carrying capacity of more than a hundred persons, all 
seated, such cars must be invaluable for congested traffic. 
The upper floor, too, as I that morning experienced, is de- 
lightful for travel through the country, being open to the 
breezes and sufficiently elevated to command wide views over 
the garden-walls; at the same time, if rain or violent wind 
occur, it is quickly enclosed by strong canvas curtains. 

At some distance north from the centre of the town the 
street became an avenue of handsome shade trees, lined by 
good-sized dwellings interspersed with lawns and gardens, — 
the buildings themselves mostly modern and ugly, but the 
verdure of considerable charm. Then a structure of gigantic 
size came into sight upon the right, lying far from the 
road, flashing in the dazzling sunlight with what seemed 
hundreds of windows. It was the famous edifice that I had 
come to see, — the historical Chateau Royal of Monza. The 
car stopped for an instant before the monurnental gate-ways, 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 103 

of massive wrought-Iron wickets suspended between high 
stone pillars; and I descended. 

Through the ironwork was visible a wide, imposing avenue 
of approach, its macadamized roadway flanked by stretches 
of turf, and these enclosed by two long lines of ornamental 
white stone posts some ten feet high, which carried fences of 
slender iron pickets ; behind these transparent railings on each 
hand appeared various out-buildings surrounded by lawns, 
flower-beds and clumps of trees, — simple, stuccoed structures 
with dark stone trimmings ; and straight ahead at the avenue's 
end rose the monster-palace, as regular in form as a regiment 
of Prussian guards. The central pavilion and projecting 
wings were three stories in height, the long connecting 
bodies, but tw^o; yet even those two, in royal fashion, had the 
loftiness of half a, dozen or more modern floors. The ma- 
terial was clearly stuccoed brick, with painted dark stucco 
trimmings; the style was Italian rococo, but nevertheless of a 
remarkable quiet reserve and considerable dignity. The 
numerous windows were shaded by simple heavy cornices, 
and divided by painted pilasters one storey in height ; a prom- 
inent cornicione crowned each long division; the entrances 
were no longer than the windows, being but two small door- 
ways at the sides of the central pavilion, approached by 
double steps. Not a statue was in sight, — only a few mar- 
ble urns rising along the roof-balustrade of the pavilion, and 
a multitude of chimneys standing on the tiles. The wings 
extended far toward the road, ending at their inner corners 
in two cubical pavilions a storey and a half in height, dec- 
orated with many dark pilaster strips and flat gables. 

Over the whole edifice and its grand approach hung an 
air of desertedness and decay; weeds and grass had sprouted 
in the neglected driveway, in such numbers as to darken the 



I04 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

gravel; and the rusting Iron gates betrayed an uninterrupted 
closure of years. Yet it is not an old building, having been 
erected about 1780, for the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand, 
who then governed Lombardy, — a thorough type of those 
vast palaces of the rococo era upon which the sovereigns of 
Europe wasted so many millions, in poor imitations of Ver- 
sailles. The location here was prompted by the magnificent 
and extensive park that stretches from this point far to the 
north and east, one of the most precious royal legacies from 
the Sforzas; the tops of its giant trees were visible now from 
the gate, over the roofs of the out-buildings on the left. In 
respect to it, at least, the Austrian rulers outshone the 
French. The viceroys came regularly to enjoy its cooling 
shade during the summer heat, bringing all their court with 
them, and setting up here a temporary and miniature capital. 
Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the spirited Beatrice 
d'Este,^^ sole heiress of the Duke of Modena, were especially 
devoted to this Imposing retreat of their own construction; 
the latter " held a considerable ascendancy in Lombardy, by 
her birth, which she ripened into a more considerable influ- 
ence, by the display of all those qualities so prized by the old 
nobility. Replete with arlstocratlcal prejudices, bigoted in all 
the fullest force of the term, haughty and despotic,'* ^^ she 
made this palace for a good part of the year the centre of 
all reaction against the new tendencies which were bringing 
on the downfall of feudalism. The drama which was de- 
veloped at Versailles, in which her sister-in-law Marie An- 
toinette took an unconscious part, was here repeated with more 
vindlctiveness and intention. As I gazed over the grass- 

21 Not to be confounded with the earlier and more famous 
Beatrice d'Este, the wife of Lodovico Sforzo, il More, of the later 
quattrocento. 

22 Lady Morgan's " Italy," Vol. I. 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 105 

grown avenue I seemed to catch a glimpse of the brilliancy 
of those days, — the court seemed alive again with gay-hued, 
silken cavaliers and ladies, powdered and bewigged, with 
scores of gorgeous servants hastening hither and thither, 
with brilliant, arriving carriages, and painted sedan chairs. 

" Fashion in the — circle of Beatrice strove to imitate 
that ridicule which the flimsy but brilliant court of her 
sister-in-law — was playing o£E against such men as Neckar, 
Turgot, etc. — All those whose personal interests were trod- 
den on or whose prejudices were shocked (by the advance 
of the new ideas) grouped round the Grand Duke and 
Duchess in their retreat at Monza." ^^ But it was all in 
vain. The revolution came, and triumphed; mediaeval des- 
potism fell forever; the French Republicans drove the Aus- 
trians from Lombardy, Bonaparte seized the Iron Crown, 
and Eugene Beauharnais as his viceroy occupied the vacated 
palaces. To this splendid villa he brought his fair young 
bride, Augusta of Bavaria, who equally with himself enjoyed 
the admiration and devotion of the Milanese; and their resi- 
dence in this charming spot became one of the prettiest 
scenes of the new era. 

Napoleon, in one of his letters written to Josephine dur- 
ing his visit to Lombardy in 1807, mentioned that he had 
been to see Princess Augusta at Monza, and found her health 
improving. His presence here then lends the palace addi- 
tional interest. The buildings, the gardens, the hot-houses, 
the park, were all so much improved by the French, " that 
on the return of the Austrians they found their dreary old 
villa no longer cognizable as the spot where Beatrice was 
wont to hold Tarocco parties." ^^^ Andrea Appiani, the im- 
perial court painter, had decorated at Napoleon's order the 

23 Lady Morgan's " Italy," Vol. I. 

23a Idem, 



io6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

rotunda, the new theatre, and other apartments, with a 
series of striking frescoes, which are still the principal ob- 
ject of interest within. But no visitors are admitted, and I 
could not even pass the gate. 

After another half-century of Austrian viceroys, the cha- 
teau and park passed to the kings of United Italy, like the 
other royal and ducal residences throughout the land. " In 
all the chief towns of Italy there is a royal palace, and one 
or more villas in the vicinity. These residences of the rulers 
of the former various Italian states, have been, with very 
few exceptions, maintained as royal residences, constituting 
by no means a small item in the expenses of His Majesty." ^* 
King Humbert visited the chateau occasionally, being here on 
the occasion when the cholera broke out in Naples, in 1884, 
— whereupon he promptly abandoned his villeggiatura and 
hurried to work boldly amidst the contagion. It was here at 
Monza, as all remember, that he was later slain, by an an- 
archist's dagger ; and since that tragedy the villa has not once 
been opened, — nor probably will be during the present mon- 
arch's reign. The associations are too sad. In the little 
city a memorial chapel has been erected on the spot where the 
assassination occurred, in a street some distance from the 
centre; it was not quite finished when I was there, but was 
dedicated soon after. It is a curious combination of monu- 
ment and chapel, and for that reason well worth seeing; 
the latter being contained in the heavy square base, upon 
which rises a lofty round shaft, of imposing size and grace- 
fulness. 

— I walked on from the palace gate, northward to the 
public entrance to the park a furlong beyond. Here was the 
terminus of the tramway. Through the entrance I looked 
down a beautiful vista of large trees running straightaway 

24 Luigi Villari's " Italian Life in Town and Country." 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 107 

east to a far distance, — a fine, white highway, confined be- 
tween rows of luxuriant maple and horsechestnut ; while the 
spreading wood on each hand was of trees still taller, great 
elms and beeches predominating, — not set thickly, but with 
open glades, and turf devoid of underbrush. Advancing, I 
discovered through the trunks a high Iron picket fence upon 
the right, — the boundary of the palace grounds, which in- 
clude also a section of the wood, intersected by pleasant 
paths, with moss-grown statues and fountains. There the 
nobility were used to stroll, and whisper gallantries, secure 
from vulgar Intrusion. 

From the main avenue occasional by-roads parted, winding 
through the luxuriant foliage, or leading straightaway be- 
tween twin regimental files; — grand ''cathedral aisles" 
were these, beneath the lofty elms and oaks, paved with 
grassy turf unspoiled by shrubbery; and good-sized meadows 
opened now and again, whose glistening sunlight emphasized 
the cooling shade. From these last hay is yearly gathered, 
and down one far vista on the left I saw the large barn- 
buildings where it is stored, looking not unlike a pleasant 
forest-villa. These splendid woods would afford the most 
delightful rambles and picnics to northerners suffocated by 
Milan's terrible summer heat, and longing for fresh air and 
greenery; — so easily reached, as they are, by the electric 
tram from the apse of the Cathedral. But that which now 
awaited me, ahead, unseen and unforeseen, was the wonder 
that made the whole trip notable, and which would crown 
with joy a day's excursion. 

I had advanced perhaps half a mile from the entrance, 
and had already thought several times of turning back, when 
there opened to the left a field of large size, running far 
away to the north between clean-cut lines of majestic ma- 
ples; and beyond the field's farther edge, over the treetops. 



io8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

billowing endless to the north, there loomed Into the sky a 
stupendous chain of mountains, so vast and formidable that 
their mighty crags seemed close at hand. Upon the nearest 
the colours were green and brown, — meadows below and 
bare crags above; but beyond these few, far loftier and den- 
tated, extended a great line of glittering snow-peaks, daz- 
zling-white from their mid-heights to the pointed summits 
scintillating against the blue, — peak after peak soaring still 
more aerial as they retreated afar towards the Alpine heart. 
It was a magnificent sight, — the more overwhelming from its 
sudden and unexpected looming forth, the more beautiful 
from its contrast with the luxuriant forest and level plain. 

This was clearly the chain of peaks surrounding Lake 
Como, now quite near me on the north. Doubtless they 
were more snow-clad than in mid-summer; but at any time 
they must be from this point an impressive spectacle. A 
little to left of them the yet more distant and higher 
Alps were visible, beyond the lakes, — another whole range 
of dazzling summits, seemingly poised at an Indefinite height. 
Through the still, clear air every crag and pinnacle were 
sharply outlined; yet they hung there, shrouded In that ro- 
mantic effect of unreality, of unattainable distance, which 
renders so delightful these vistas from the plain, and which 
thrills us again from the backgrounds of the Old Masters. — 
Ruskin spoke of it: 

" In an Italian twilight, when 60 or 80 miles away, the 
ridge of the western Alps rises In Its dark and serrated blue 
— there Is still unsearchableness, but unsearchableness with- 
out a cloud or concealment, — an Infinite unknown, but no 
sense of any veil or interference between us and It; we are 
separated from It, not by any anger or storm, not by any vain 
and fading vapour, but by the deep Infinity of the thing 



MONZA AND THE IRON CROWN 109 

itself. — I find that the great religious painters rejoiced in 
that kind of unknowableness, and in that only." ^^ 

Retracing slowly my steps through the forest ways, I 
returned to the other go, — packed my few effects, and took 
the first express-train after lunch for the south. Swiftly 
we sped across the fertile, monotonous landscape, as level 
as a floor, whose ceaseless villages, farmhouses, and smoky 
towns flitted by like a dream. The factory-chimneys be- 
came gradually taller, and more and more frequent; the 
luxuriant countryside disappeared ; and we rolled through 
a sea of buildings stretching to the horizon. 

— An hour later I was once more walking the pavement 
of the grand Piazza del Duomo of Milan, traversing the 
throngs of the splendid Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and 
gazing up with swelling heart at the countless white pinna- 
cles of that wondrous fane, which atones for nearly all the 
crimes of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. 

25 " Precious thoughts from Ruskin." 



CHAPTER IV 

SARONNO AND VARESE 

"I stood beside Varese's Lake, 
Mid that redundant growth 
Of vines and maize and bower and brake 

Which Nature, kind to sloth, 
And scarce solicited by toil, 

Pours from the riches of the teeming soil." 

Henry Taylor, 

A GLANCE at the water-system of western Lombardy should 
be first taken by him who plans to visit its points of interest ; 
for it was by those arteries of trade, and those lines of de- 
fence, during hundreds of years before railroads were dreamed 
of, that the cities of man were built up and aggrandised, and 
the boundaries of his states delimited. It is at once observa- 
ble that this portion of the plain consists mainly of one great 
quadrilateral, formed by the lakes on the north, the Po on 
the south, the Adda on the east, emptying the waters of 
Lake Como, and the Ticino on the west, emptying those of 
Lake Maggiore. Both of these last two rivers are tributaries 
of the Po, flowing generally a little east of south; and the 
Ticino forms for more than half its length the western 
boundary of the province proper. 

At what is practically the exact centre of this quadrilateral 
fof the Milanese^ stands its capital, the metropolis of the 
plain, connected with all three rivers by large navigable 
'canals, which were constructed by the mediaeval rulers, and 
were the cause of its material supremacy. For it was by the 
Po, its numerous tributaries (which are mostly navigable) 

no 



SARONNO AND VARESE in 

and their connecting man-made channels, whose ramifications 
altogether cover the whole plain like a net-work, that prac- 
tically all commerce was transported during those centuries, 
when land-communications were both difficult and danger- 
ous. One canal took Milan's produce eastward to the Adda, 
shortly south of Trezzo, by which river it reached the great 
lake of Como and its scores of towns; and the visitor at 
Bellaggio still sees the blue water covered with clumsy, 
ancient barges, propelled by sweeps and yellow sails, which 
he does not realise are the chief mediums of commerce with 
the metropolis. Another canal, the famous Naviglio Grande, 
runs westward to the Ticino and Lago Maggiore; and a 
third proceeds southward to Pavia, and the near-by Po, — 
which leads in turn to the rest of the plain, and the open 
Adriatic Sea. 

Besides these artificial waterways, two smaller rivers per- 
colate the Milanesej the Lambro and Olona, flowing re- 
spectively along the eastern and western outskirts of the 
metropolis; both take their rise in the northern highlands, 
and find their mouths in the Po. At Monza I had traversed 
the upper valley of the former ; in the upper valley of the lat- 
ter, northwest of Milan, lie the five other towns of this north- 
ern district which are worth a visit. That portion of the 
Olona has long been celebrated for its extraordinary canyon- 
like formation; the deep gorge in which it emerges from the 
mountains, just to the southwest of Lake Lugano, accom- 
panies the stream for a score of miles southwards, gradually 
broadening till it vanishes in the plain. Near the point of 
that first emergence from the hills, close by the gorge, sits the 
prosperous little city of Varese, renowned for the delightful 
scenery of its environs; halfway from there to Milan, where 
the Olona valley has finally spread itself to the common 
level, rises the famous town of Legnano, the birthplace of 



112 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Italian freedom, where the burghers of the plain-towns 
crumpled up the legions of Barbarossa. 

Midway between Legnano and Varese, deep in the defile 
of the Olona chasm, lies a shrine of Italian art the im- 
portance of which cannot be overestimated, — the village of 
Castiglione Olona, the ancestral home of that great family 
which, besides numerous statesmen, produced the renowned 
Baldassare Castiglione; its historic treasures are not tQ be 
duplicated in Lombardy, — for there alone in Italy can be 
seen the marvellous works of Masolino, the Florentine, the 
teacher of Masaccio and the whole quattrocento. Oi all 
pilgrimages for art-students the world can give, this is one 
of the few most significant and thrilling. — Finally, to the 
east and west of Legnano, respectively, on the borders of the 
Olona valley, sit the two remaining towns that demand a 
visit, — Saronno and Busto Arsizio. The former of these 
is another artistic shrine of importance, being the home of 
that wonderful series of frescoes which are the masterpieces 
of Bernardino Luini, and Gaudenzio Ferrari. 

Two railroads traverse this district, starting respectively 
from the " Central " and the " Nord " stations of Milan, — 
whicli the traveller must notice carefully if he would not 
lose his train by going to the wrong depot. That from the 
Central station follows the Olona to Legnano, where it di- 
verges westward to Busto Arsizio and Lago Maggiore; a 
continuation of this, up the gorge to Castiglione, from Leg- 
nano, is alleged to be in process of construction, but doubt- 
less will not be finished for years to come. The other line 
leads directly via Saronno to Varese, passing, midway be- 
tween the two, the present nearest railway station to Cas- 
tiglione, — Venegono Superiore; whence the pilgrim to the 
shrine of Masolino must continue a couple of miles west- 
ward, into the gorge, by foot or carriage. 



SARONNO AND VARESE 113 

It was the latter railway that I first followed, on a beauti- 
ful May morning when the plain shone resplendent in its re- 
juvenescence under the sun's warming golden rays. It was 
a relief to depart from the great modern city ; it was a delight 
to leave behind its smoky, modern suburbs, with their forest 
of chimneys, and enter once more upon this luxuriant, glow- 
ing countryside, where every tree-lined highway seemed beck- 
oning on to rural beauties. Here, at least, was still the 
Lombardy of old. Here were the endless fields of incom- 
parable richness, for which the nations had fought so long, 
still tilled with that minute care which has been recently la- 
belled " intensive agriculture." Here was the wealth that 
aggrandised the early Milan, raised the Visconti to their 
pinnacle of power, and enabled the country so miraculously 
to recuperate, times without number, from the devastation 
of war. As early as the 13th century, says Sismondi, *' men 
who meditated, and who applied to the arts the fruits of their 
study, practised already that scientific agriculture of Lom- 
bardy and Tuscany which became a model to other nations; 
and at this day, after five centuries, the districts formerly 
free, and always cultivated with intelligence, are easily dis- 
tinguished from those half-wild districts which had remained 
subject to the feudal lords." ^ 

Here the distinguishing characteristics were not only the 
riches of the soil, — the countless wheat-fields that now bil- 
lowed away on each side to the horizon, freshly green, and 
the endless rows of mulberries, putting forth their new 
crops of leaves for the silkworms, — but also the land's re- 
markable subdivision Into small holdings, each with Its com- 
fortable dwelling and farm-buildings, and the entire ab- 
sence of those waste spaces known as noblemen's parks or 
villa-grounds. It was always so In this region; IMrs. Piozzi 

1 Sismondi's " History of the Italian Republics." 



114 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

noticed it in the i8th century: "A nobleman's park is an- 
other object never to be seen or expected in a country where 
people would really be deserving much blame did they retain 
in their hands for mere amusement ten or twelve miles' 
circuit of earth, capable to produce two or three thousand 
pounds a year profit to their families, besides making many 
tenants rich and happy in the meantime. I will confess, 
however, that the absence of all these agremens gives a flat- 
ness and uniformity to the views which one cannot complain 
of in England; but when Italians consider the cause, they 
will have reason to be satisfied with the effect, especially 
while vegetable nature flourishes in full perfection, while 
every step crushes out perfume from the trodden herbs, and 
those in the hedges disperse with delightful liberality a fra- 
grance that enchants one. Hops and pyracanthus cover the 
sides of every cottage, and the scent of truffles attracts, and 
the odour of melons gratifies one's nerves, when driving 
among the habitations of fertile Lombardy." ^ 

How extraordinary the difference of this countryside from 
the regions of central and southern Italy, where the traveller 
from his train-window watches districts pass by, hour after 
hour, without a habitation outside the ancient walled bor- 
oughs on their hilltops. But Milan, Venice and Florence, as 
I have stated elsewhere, were the only states of the 
Middle Ages and the Renaissance that bestowed sufficient 
protection on their territories to permit a peaceful occupation 
of the soil. 

There was another characteristic noted by Mrs. PIozzI 
that remains the same today, — the further monotony of 
Lombard landscape caused by the entire absence from it of 

2 Mrs. Piozzi's " Glimpses of Italian Society in the i8th Century." 
It must be remembered that these, and especially her following re- 
marks, refer only to this district of Italy. 



SARONNO AND VARESE 115 

animal life in the fields : " Nothing is so little animated by 
the sight of living creatures as an Italian prospect. No 
sheep upon their hills, no cattle grazing in their meadows, 
no waterfowl, swans, ducks, etc., upon their lakes. — These, 
however, are only consequences of luxuriant plenty, for where 
the farmer makes four harvests of his grass, and every other 
speck of ground is profitably covered with grain, vines, etc., 
all possibility of open pasturage is precluded. Horses, too, 
so ornamental in an English landscape, will never be seen 
loose in an Italian one, as they are all chevaux entiers, and 
cannot be trusted in troops together as ours can, even if there 
was ground unenclosed for them to graze on." 

Of birds, in Mrs. Piozzi's time, there were still plenty 
upon the plain ; but nowadays, alas, the unending destruction 
waged upon them by Italians has left very few alive. Guns, 
nets, and the cruel roccoli dispose each year of the small 
numbers that enter from abroad; for the whole nation are 
the most enthusiastic bird-sportsmen upon the face of the 
earth, and their enthusiasm seems to increase with the dis- 
appearance of the game. There are now practically no game 
birds in the land, and no private preserves; but they hunt 
down tiny songsters, and consume their diminutive bodies, 
with a zest that other peoples cannot understand. Hunts- 
men are never-failing objects in the Lombard landscape; one 
cannot take a rural stroll anywhere in north Italy (outside 
of Piedmont) without incurring the danger of their wild 
shooting; they wander around the towns, generally without 
dogs, well content to obtain the shattered carcass of one 
little finch as the result of a day's tramping. 

The church also joins regularly in the foolish slaughter. 
The report of a firearm close beside the train, on that May 
morning, drew me to the opposite window ; — where I ar- 
rived in time to catch a glimpse of a village parroco, in his 



ii6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

long, threadbare cassock and black skull cap, with the tra- 
ditional spectacles upon his forehead, clasping a smoking 
shot-gun and peering eagerly through the bushes. The flock 
follows where the padre leads; and every Lombard Taras- 
conian community has its aggregation of devoted, cap-hunting 
Tartarins. But the roccolo, I believe, is more destructive 
than the gun; everywhere through northern Italy one finds 
them, — those death-dealing traps, composed of circles of 
evergreen trees and shrubbery, covered by netting, furnished 
with decoy songsters for the lure. It is they, never ceasing 
to work, that provide Italian tables with their miserable 
beccafichi. So Italians have sown, and now they are reaping, 
■ — not the full crops that once graced the land, but crops 
dwindling steadily, year by year, through the unchecked 
operation of insect scourges; the vines especially are fast dis- 
appearing. 

Baretti admitted this idiosyncrasy of his fellow-country- 
men a century and a half ago : " Several of our sovereigns 
have their hunting-fetes, and follow sometimes the violent 
exercise of pursuing the stag and the wild boar, and even the 
wolf." Especially true of the Piedmontese; Victor Emman- 
uel II and Umberto I, in our day, often hunted the wild goats 
and chamoix of the Gran Paradiso range. — " But this is no 
part of our national character, and in general we do not 
love such dangerous^ exercises. We are fonder of fowling, 
and laying snares for the feathered birds; and as to the art 
of catching birds, there is perhaps no nation in Europe so 
dexterous as the Italians." ^ 

Nearly an hour had been passed in the fifteen-mile run, 
when the train pulled into the station of Saronno. This 
consisted of two long uncovered platforms, with many inter- 
vening tracks; for the place is quite a railroad junction, — 

3 Baretti's *' Manners ancj Customs of Italy," Vol. II, 



SARONNO AND VARESE 117 

one branch line diverging northward here to Como, while 
another crosses at right angles, running east and west beside 
the old highway from Busto Arsizio to Seregno and Usmate. 
The town of 10,000 inhabitants lies scattered along that high- 
way, for over a mile, mostly to eastward of the station. 
Its only notorious product was recalled to my mind, as I 
descended from the carriage, by the shrill cries of a couple of 
youthful venders, promenading the platform with large bas- 
kets. — '' Amarettil Amarettil" — rose the repeated call, un- 
interrupted by the passengers who bought eagerly from the 
train windows. The goods were gingerbread cakes, of a 
peculiar make and flavour much esteemed by the Lombards, 
and for which Saronno has a wide renown. 

On Issuing forth, after leaving my luggage In deposit, I 
found the old highway crossing the tracks immediately north 
of the station, whence It continued eastward between crowded, 
stained, stucco buildings of indefinite age, — the one thor- 
oughfare of the town; westward It was a handsome avenue 
of plane-trees, four rows in width, the beauty of whose 
fresh foliage was, however, marred by their being truncated 
at a two-thirds height, In the common Italian fashion. The 
buildings scattered beside the avenue, too, were dilapidated 
with age and neglect, looking like decayed warehouses or 
factories, that had been given over to the habitation of the 
poor. Slatternly women and dirty children hung and 
screamed from the windows, as I passed by; I was making 
for Saronno's famous santuario, a third of a mile to the west. 

It was the friars who planted these stately trees, long ago, 
constructing an Impressive approach from the ugly town to 
the shrine that brought It celebrity and custom. Saronno 
in Itself Is not, and never has been, of any special worth 
or Interest ; the fame has been that of this pilgrimage church, 
the Santuario della Beata Virginej or S. Maria dei Miracoli, 



ii8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

which, after being for five centuries the object of a peculiar 
reverence and belief by the people of the whole district, has 
now acquired a far greater sanctity In the world of art. And 
this is because the monks of the early cinquecento^ following 
the fashion of their period and building more wisely than 
they knew, used some of the superfluous riches deposited 
by credulous pilgrims In engaging the magic brushes of 
Lulnl and Gaudenzio Ferrari. The authorities wished a 
pompous decoration of the presbytery, dome and choir of 
their newly erected church, — which " had been commenced 
in 1498 from the designs of VIncenzo dell' Orto," * — and the 
result was a great series of masterpieces of painting, not to 
be surpassed in all Lombardy. 

Lulnl was the first engaged, In 1523. Born at Luino 
on Lago Magglore about 1475, he was now therefore at the 
supreme height of his transcendental powers. Foppa, Bor- 
gognone and Bramantino, whose processes he had followed 
in his youthful period, had left upon his genius the imprint 
of their vigorous characteristics; and even the overwhelming 
Influence of Leonardo, which had captured him on arriving 
at maturer years, and moulded his work into lasting lines of 
divine beauty, had become " chastened, spiritualised, per- 
meated with Lulnl's deep religious fervour; and there were 
side by side with it the growth of the artist's own Ideas and 
the ability to represent them." ^ He had ceased painting 
those figures so exactly like Leonardo's, with the same 
enigmatic smile on their exquisite lips, which afterwards 
caused them to be everywhere assigned to the great master 
himself, and left the disciple's fame obscured till the redis- 
coveries of recent days; he had developed at last his own 
personality, had reached that ultimate period which placed 

* G. C. Williamson's " Bernardino Luini." 
5 Idem, 



SARONNO AND VARESE 119 

him In the first rank of the Renaissance. Such was Lulnl's 
state when called to Saronno; and the consequence was that 
the supreme fire of his genius blazed forth upon the walls 
of this pilgrimage church, stamping them with a series of 
stupendous frescoes that are radiant with his Individuality. 

It Is not necessary to attach any Importance to the story 
that Lulnl fled from Milan on account of either crime or 
political Intrigue, and took refuge at Saronno, and while there 
was forced by the monks to paint the frescoes in return for 
the sanctuary and hospitality that they afforded him. This 
story, which is still sometimes repeated at the church, is 
quite refuted by the records that remain, stating the emolu- 
ment which the artist received for the work, and also by 
the freedom and entire want of restraint shown in the 
whole series of frescoes.^ 

Lanlnl, Abblate, and Cesare del Magno were also em- 
ployed by the friars, on a much lesser scale; and finally, In 
1534, they engaged Gaudenzio Ferrari to paint the cupola 
of the presbytery, which remained unadorned. Curiously 
enough, this second great Lombard genius was also just at 
the summit of his powers, and likewise left at Saronno his 
masterpiece. Born but a little later than Luini, about 1481, 
he had yet been an early disciple of the latter, who " seems 
to have used his Influence at this time In directing his young 
pupil's attention chiefly to the works of Borgognone and 
Bramantlno." ^ The Inevitable later Influence entered Into 
Ferrari's life with his discovery of the works of Corregglo, 
which profoundly affected his whole manner of composition ; 
and It Is probably from Corregglo's Gloria at Parma that 
he conceived the design for his dome at Saronno. He re- 
tained, however, and even emphasised, his individuality of 

^ Vide G. C. Williamson's " Bernardino Luini." 
'^ Ethel Halsey's " Gaudenzio Ferrari." 



I20 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

colouring, which no one who has once seen can ever forget, 

— that ''usual gay but harmonious scheme of yellows, 

browns, greens, mulberry reds, greys and whites, with blues 
sparsely introduced." No one can dispute his title to being 
at once the greatest, most peculiar, and most enchanting col- 
ourist of the Lombard school. 

Another personal trait which Gaudenzio had now fully 
developed, and which was a reflex of his character, was the 
intense joyousness and activity of his holy figures, — a vivid, 
sprightly joy that was at once earthly and celestial. Correg- 
gio's influence lived in his methods of composition; Luini's, 
in the Leonardesque heads with their beautiful faces and 
curling, golden hair, which are sometimes indistinguishable 
from that master's own. Strangely like Luini's also was the 
fate of Ferrari's work, which underwent a similar obscurity 
for centuries till rescued by modern research; but the cause 
was different, lying in the fact that practically " all his mas- 
terpieces are in the smaller towns and villages of Lombardy, 
off the beaten track, and are therefore unknown to the 
general public." Now, however, discerning criticism has 
repaid neglect with interest, by labelling him " undoubtedly 
the most powerful and original artist that the school pro- 
duced, — the Michael Angelo of the Lombard school, as 
Luini has been termed the Raphael." ^ 

My first glimpse of the church was the appearance of its 
striking dome and lofty tower, looming above the trees as 
I approached the end of the avenue. The campanile rose in 
five brick stages with light limestone trimmings, to a lime- 
stone belfry with double rounded arches, topped by a balus- 
trade and an octagonal lantern; the dome was indeed re- 
markable, consisting of a tall twelve-sided drum, capped by a 
slim lantern, and surrounded by a limestone arcade of ex- 

s Ethel Halsey's " Gaudenzio Ferrari," 



SARONNO AND VARESE 121 

quisite proportions and decoration; each face contained two 
double arches, with medallions in their lunette, upon slender 
columns and pedestals underrun by a graceful balustrade; 
while over columns and pedestals alike were draped dainty 
stone festoons and arabesques. 

The latter were not discernible till I had arrived at the 
building's foot, — emerging from the final trees of the avenue 
to find myself beside the rectangular choir projecting east- 
ward; for the church faced away from Saronno, with its 
flank upon the north side of its piazza. So, as I advanced 
into the open, a clear view was afforded me of both dome 
and tower, — the latter rising in the farther angle between 
the choir and left transept. The straight side-wall of the 
building was simple but effective, being of plain stucco pierced 
by corniced renaissance windows, separated by doric pilasters ; 
it was of one story only, with tiled roof sloping upward to the 
side of the loftier nave. Opposite, on the left hand of the 
piazza, stretched a pretty row of young shade-trees, backed 
by a fine old walled garden, belonging to some villa; this 
was surmounted by picturesque clumps of tall evergreens, 
in whose shady nooks several birds were sweetly singing. 

On rounding the fagade of the edifice, it betrayed a later 
erection than the tasteful rear part, being of the rococo 
period, of stucco with two tiers of granite columns, — four 
couples In each tier — and a great mass of unpleasing orna- 
mentation. Over the central doorway was a gabled porch 
upheld by two huge Atlantes, with poor statues in niches 
at its sides; over the side doorways were broken cornices 
and rectangular reliefs; a triple window adorned the center 
of the upper storey, flanked by two other statues in elaborate 
niches; and the balustraded cornice was crowned by five 
more marble divinities, of baroque wlldness, — four of them 
angels blowing very long trumpets, the fifth a Madonna 



122 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

armed with a lightning-rod. Immediately to left here, along 
the piazza's northern side, stretched a portion of the adjacent 
monastery buildings; that visible was a two-storied, stucco 
edifice, colonnaded below, having a handsome plaster door- 
way at the left end; over the latter, from the peak of the 
pent roof, rose a slim campanile of three divisions, to a 
single-arched belfry with byzantine cupola. All was un- 
changed from the days when Luini passed in and out. 

Entering the church, I found myself in a low, round- 
arched nave, with a most sumptuous stucco ceiling of baroque 
design, painted in vivid blues and greens about its glazed, 
white figures; each bay contained four large angels of gilded 
hair and wings, inclining their heads toward a central octa- 
gon, which was deeply recessed with shell-work, and filled 
with crude pictures. At each side of the nave were five round 
arches, rising from pilasters upon the sides of the heavy 
white piers, which separated off the low aisles with their 
elaborately painted ceilings; they had no chapels, nor even 
altars. The pilasters bore gilded corinthian caps; the span- 
drels of the arches were occupied by lifesize moulded figures 
in white Roman robes; and above them ran open galleries, 
adorned with large grey angels standing before the pillars, 
and crowned upon the arches by gambolling white putti. 
All was typical of the over-ripe baroque. 

It was only on advancing to the presbytery, which occupied 
the place of a transept, that the true beauties of the place 
unfolded; here, under the soft white light raining down 
from the lofty dome, glistened gloriously from each side the 
beautiful tones of the old masters, in scores of holy per- 
sonages that looked forth from every wall-space, and mounted 
afar, story upon story, to the tremendous climax of Fer- 
rari's heavenly choir. Straight ahead was a curious low 
archway, leading to the choir, and topped by the organ; 



SARONNO AND VARESE 123 

similar archways to right and left formed deep altar-re- 
cesses, guarded by strange iron railings composed of instru- 
ments of the Passion, with black marble posts whose carved 
white caps represented plates of fruit, a lamb, a communion- 
pitcher, cups, masks, etc. ; the fourth similar archway formed 
the entrance from the nave. Beside each aperture stood 
two pairs of large pilasters, with faces of white arabesques 
upon golden ground, each pair enclosing the heroic painted 
figure of a saint ; two of these figures were certainly by LuinI, 

— the St. Roch with a charming angel, second to right, and 
the St. Sebastian, second to left, — while some critics also 
credit him with the St. Anthony and St. Christopher. The 
others were done by Cesare del Magno. To the left of 
the entrance-arch there projected a beautiful oak pulpit, ex- 
quisitely carved with a profusion of cherubs, festoons, angel- 
heads, etc. A delightful frieze of painted putti extended 
roundabout the ground story, which, though sometimes al- 
leged to be the work of Lanini, indubitably betrays Luini's 
superior talent. 

Lanini's productions appear in the second story, in the 
six frescoed panels of saints, single or grouped, flanking the 
arched recesses at the presbytery's rear and sides; these are 
not remarkable, and the eye passes over them to the corner 
spandrels, curving forward a little higher, which were for- 
merly radiant with four large striking medallions, repre- 
senting the scenes of the Fall of Man. Two of them are 
unfortunately ruined by the damp; but the remaining two 

— the Eating of the Apple, and the Expulsion — are so 
effective in composition and treatment of the nude, that their 
drawing must have been done by Lanini's master, Ferrari; 
and documents recently discovered in the monastery archives 
prove that these tondi were executed by Gaudenzio and 
his pupils. Above them rises the tall drum, twelve-sided 



124 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

like the exterior, presenting an extraordinary sight; for it 
is entirely surrounded by huge painted wooden statues of 
saints, projecting from niches, — twenty-three in all, a great 
concourse of uncouth, gesticulating figures. 

But the eye still passes on, to forget them instantly, as 
it becomes lost in the vast and wonderful paradise glittering 
from the dome with a thousand lustrous colours, agitated 
with the movement of numberless angels more beautiful 
than can be conceived. Row upon row they extend upward 
to the vault of heaven, not ordered like a trecento gloria, 
but all in ceaseless activity, — playing with glowing eyes 
and cheeks on every kind of musical instrument, singing with 
rapturous lips and streaming hair, radiant with that loveli- 
ness of form and colour which only Gaudenzio Ferrari 
could produce. Ah! how graceful are those winged girlish 
figures, exquisitely rounded, swathed in gleaming, glossy- 
hued draperies that cling and float in such realistic folds, yet 
shower their countless vivid tints like a score of circling 
rainbows; how ethereally beautiful are all those Luinesque 
heads, with their long curling locks of shining gold and 
their blissful, expressive faces; how thrillingly absorbed are 
one and all in their heavenly music, which every fervid eye 
reveals to be a tremendous paean of praise to the Almighty! 
This is assured by the topmost row, still higher in the sky, 
which consists of the chorus of baby-angels, fluttering pink 
and white around the apex of paradise, their eyes united 
upon that central Throne, where appears the majestic figure 
of the Eternal. And as one gazes, marvelling, the celestial 
chanting seems to echo in his ears, ever louder and more 
sublime, resounding with melodies never dreamed of upon 
earth, — until he feels himself being lifted to that glittering 
empyrean, surrounded by its immortal songsters ! — Well 



SARONNO AND VARESE 125 

may one so wonder and dream, — for there Is nothing else 
just like this In all the world. 

We cannot be too thankful that it has been so splendidly 
preserved, in all Its plenitude of grace and vivid hue, — this 
work upon which Gaudenzio poured out, as nowhere else, 
the treasures of his blltheful, beauty-loving soul. " The 
supreme quality of this great work Is the extraordinary life 
that pervades It. As one stands below and looks up at this 
busy throng, animated with a holy joy, one can but marvel 
at the astonishing vitality and movement." ^ " Though the 
motion of music runs through the whole multitude like a 
breeze, though the joy expressed Is a real tripudio celeste, 
not one of all these angels flings his arms abroad or makes 
a movement that disturbs the rhythm. We feel that they 
are keeping time — each In his appointed seat, as though 
the sphere were circling with them round the throne of 
God, who is their centre and their source of gladness." ^^ 
It Is related that even the stolid, avaricious monks, who had 
contracted to give Ferrari 200 golden scudi, besides the 
lodging and wine for himself and his assistants and the cost 
of the scaffolding and plaster, were so impressed by the 
result of the year's work that they voluntarily increased the 
emolument to 250 scudi. 

Before leaving the presbytery I looked at the altar palas 
at the sides, finding them well worth a moment's inspection 
in spite of their modernity; for one was a very charming 
relief of the Pleta, of llfesize, in a classic frame of coloured 
marbles, flanked by frescoed scenes from the Passion; and 
the other was a most extraordinary representation of the 
Last Supper, by llfesize, realistic figures of painted plaster, 

9 Ethel Halsey's " Gaudenzio Ferrari." 

10 J. A. Symonds' "Sketches and Studies in Italy." 



126 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

seated around three sides of a table, — the whole very effect- 
ive from its startling vraisemblance. Then I entered the 
rear archway, that forms a long vestibule to the retired 
choir, only to stop after a few steps with a sense of keen 
delight; for here, upon the sides, extended the first of 
Luini's great tableaux, — the Marriage of the Virgin, and 
Christ amongst the Doctors. Nearly 15 feet long, by 10 
feet high, they covered practically the whole of the two 
wall-spaces, above the lateral choir-benches. 

If Ferrari's figures had been idealistic and beautiful, if his 
colours had been thrilling and his composition eloquent, — 
what words then remain to depict these greater beauties of 
a still superior genius, — to give any idea of these still more 
wonderful scenes, animated by human forms at once so per- 
fectly lifelike and so lovely. He who has seen Luini's 
productions only at Milan and elsewhere, can form no idea 
of the supreme development of that genius here manifested. 
There are a dignity, a repose, a majesty of form and move- 
ment upon the splendid figures, that join with their Leon- 
ardesque beauty and the realism of their settings to make 
them shine with almost godlike power. They are concep- 
tions of ideal humanity, that are yet strongly individualised, 
and full of force and purpose; they are perfectly propor- 
tioned and moulded, posed in attitudes at once graceful and 
dramatic, while still replete with dignity; and are arranged 
in compositions that exhibit the selfsame attributes. If there 
be one fault, it is that of too much posing. 

In the Marriage scene the parties are gathered in a 
stately chamber, panelled and floored with precious marbles, 
the priest and contracting couple standing to the front, with 
the bridesmaids upon the right and the young men breaking 
their sticks upon the left; the Virgin and these youthful 
friends are all equally beautiful, the males even surpassing 



SARONNO AND VARESE 127 

the others in their superb modelling and grace; in their 
robust lines and powerful necks there is a curious resemblance 
to Mantegna's work, but here the stalwartness is superim- 
posed by the charming Luinesque heads, with their rippling 
golden hair and regular features. The high-priest is quietly 
costumed and naturally portrayed, — not burdened with the 
customary excessive hoariness; St. Joseph, likewise, is no 
tottering greybeard, but a handsome man in the prime of 
life, who places the ring upon the finger of his bride with 
a movement at once stately and unpretending ; and the friends 
who fill the background complete the fairness of the tableau 
by their general youth and comeliness. 

It is a simple, quiet scene; but how attractive and ex- 
pressive Luini has made it, by the investiture of refinement 
and beauty. The Disputa on the other hand is necessarily 
a scene of stern, dramatic intensity, filled with personages 
past the bloom of life, whose wrinkled severity is lightened 
only by the central grace of the youthful Christ. He stands 
upon a throne-chair amidst the arguing priests and scribes, 
one hand extended outwardly and the other pointing heaven- 
ward, — a lovely, inspiring figure with flowing black locks. 
His young Jewish countenance already marked with His tre- 
mendous fate. The gravity of the scene has been moderated 
in this case by the introduction of the Madonna, who seem- 
ingly enters from the right to bring the Boy to His home. 
The painter has also introduced himself, in the grim, white- 
headed friar seated at the extreme right, facing the spectator ; 
which shows him at this time to have been far advanced in 
years, but still hale and vigorous. Both of these pictures 
are wonderfully coloured, the draperies resplendent in soft, 
bright hues that blend harmoniously into dazzling themes; 
the Sposalizio. is a concord of delightful orange, blue, and 
yellow, the Disputa aglow with carmine tints and violet 



128 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY. 

Advancing into the little choir, which is no more than 20 
feet square, I found myself between two masterpieces; oc- 
cupying practically the whole of the side-walls, about 16 
feet in width by 20 in height, they filled the confined space 
with an unutterable glory of colours and beatific forms. 
On the right were the Magi, kneeling before the Holy 
Family, with their oriental train stretching away behind 
them up the steep hillside to the rear: a scene so perfectly 
depicted that I seemed no longer restricted by walls, but 
to be gazing out upon the actual landscape with its holy 
figures. On the left was the further illusion of a superb 
columned hall, seen through an archway, on whose tessellated 
pavement were grouped naturally a dozen persons; fore- 
most was the venerable high-priest, holding the infant Jesus 
in his arms, — beside him, the very lovely Madonna, gazing 
anxiously at her babe, and being reassured by her emphatic 
mother. St. Joseph stood at the left, with a small group 
of friends, and roundabout moved a number of acolytes and 
assisting maidens. 

Both of these great pictures are freely spaced and naturally 
3^et strikingly composed, — the settings and perspective real- 
istic, the human figures lustrous with bright-hued garments 
and forms of Luinesque beauty. Especially lovely is the 
group of the Holy Family with the Magi, sitting before a 
genuine old stable, with the various animals occupying its 
yard ; amongst the group is " one young man of wholly Leon- 
ardesque loveliness, whose divine innocence of adolescence, 
unalloyed by serious thought, unstirred by passions, almost 
forces a comparison with Sodoma. — Yet Sodoma had not 
all Luini's innocence or naivete. — Time and neglect have 
done no damage here; and here, again, perforce we notice 
perfect mastery of colour in fresco. — Nowhere else has he 



SARONNO AND VARESE 129 

shown more beauty and variety In detail." ^^ Well may 
Ruskin say, " Every touch he lays Is eternal; every thought 
he conceives Is beautiful and pure; his hand moves always 
in radiance of blessing." ^^ 

Above these great tableaux, in lunettes around small, high 
windows, are separate figures by the master, on the same 
high plane of excellence: sibyls, evangelists, and fathers of 
the Church, — four of each. The choir's rear side contains 
another archway, almost entirely blocked by the high-altar 
with its statues, which leaves just sufficient space on each 
hand for passage to the little retro-choir. Advancing Into 
this, I found two more Luini productions frescoed above its 
semicircular bench, — the famous figures of St. Catherine 
and St. Apollonia, each accompanied by a kneeling angel 
holding a sacramental dish; and these seemed to me the 
most divinely beautiful of all. The quiet, simply clad, maid- 
enly forms of the saints were endowed with a striking love- 
liness that no words can portray; and the angels shone 
with a glory truly celestial. 

In the adjacent sacristy there was a good picture by 
Procaccini, — a group of three saints; and on returning to 
the nave, I found some more pleasing frescoes that are now 
accredited to Luini, in a side-chapel just before the pres- 
bytery. They decorate Its vaulting, In a sumptuous style, 
intermixed with elaborate panellings and arabesques, — four 
of them being large-winged putti, standing with Instruments 
of the Passion In their hands (probably painted by Lulnl's 
assistants), and the fifth being one of those well-like per- 
spectives Invented by Mantegna, placed at the summit of the 
vaulting, with various persons looking down over Its top 

11 J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 

12 Ruskin's " Queen of the Air." 



130 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

balustrade, in a very realistic manner. The latter betrays 
the master's own hand. 

The last, but not the least, of his great efforts here, still 
remained to be seen in the adjacent cloister; upon whose wall 
is shown the celebrated Nativity, — more properly called an 
Adoration of the Child. " This was, it is said, painted by 
Luini freely, as a gift to the monks expressive of his pleasure 
at the treatment he received at their hands."^^ It is a 
lunette, representing the Babe lying upon a basket before 
the open door of the stable, with the Madonna kneeling 
upon one side and St. Joseph upon the other; their hands 
are crossed or folded upon their breasts, their eyes fixed rev- 
erently upon the adored being ; in the background are visible 
the customary ass and cow, within the doorway, and far 
to the left the shepherds tend their sheep upon a hillside. 

Nothing could be more simple in composition, in setting, 
in attitudes, costumes and accessories, while of movement 
there is none; yet with what ineffable charm of sentiment 
has Luini endowed it. The homely figures are luminous 
with tender, holy feelings, which light their faces with an 
ideal beauty. In depicting such a scene the master had no 
superior; we behold in it exactly those qualities which were 
the reflex of his character, and in which he therefore became 
pre-eminent. For, " he was not dramatic in his expression, 
but rather lyric, not inductive but deductive, not objective 
but subjective. His visions were within his breast; they 
inspired his art. — The domestic element is uppermost, the 
heroic or epic almost absent, the idyllic in the greatest de- 
mand. Later on — comes the deep and intense religious 
devotion, and it is that which is the keynote of his life. 
Symonds recognised his wonderful power to * create a 
mood.' His pictures, like a note of music, draw a corre- 

^3 G. C. Williamson's " Bernardino Luini." 



SARONNO AND VARESE 131 

spending chord from the heart, and this chord is, at the will 
of the painter, bright with joy or tremulant with sorrow 
or grief. — His own tenderness of nature, the sweetness of 
his affections, his chivalry, thoughtfulness, serious disposi- 
tion, and calm serene faith, — all these are elements of his 
lift taught by his pictures. — He had an original and ex- 
quisite feeling, as Symonds says, for loveliness of form, and 
poetic sentiment, — combined with a deep sense of life's pro- 
founder side, its pathos, its sorrow, and its suffering. — 
He was neither so subtle nor so profound as Leonardo. He 
was not so archaic as are Borgognone and Foppa, nor so 
architectural as Bramantini, nor so luscious nor voluptuous 
in style and colouring as Gaudenzio Ferrari." ^* 

Ruskin best sums it up, in saying: " He joins the purity 
and passion of Angelico to the strength of Veronese; the 
two elements, poised in perfect balance, are so calmed and 
restrained, that most of us love the sense of both. The artist 
does not see the strength by reason of the chastened spirit 
in which it is used; and the religious visionary does not 
recognise the passion by reason of the frank human truth with 
which it is rendered. He has left nothing behind him that 
is not lovely, and is perhaps the best central type of the 
highly trained Italian painter, hard-working, industrious, 
who laboured with his whole heart and soul." ^^ 

On returning to the station, I continued along the high- 
way through the town, which was narrowed for some dis- 
tance by a continuous arcade upon the left; the ground 
floors of the old stuccoed buildings were filled with the usual 
quaint little shops and cafes, from which the sunlight was 
mostly excluded. Several small alberghi also appeared, 
at one of which I procured a satisfactory lunch. On rc- 

^* G. C. Williamson's '' Bernardino Luini," 
1^ Ruskin's " Queen of the Air," 



132 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

newing my walk, I found the full extent of the thoroughfare 
to be nearly a mile. A third of the way along, an old 
church was upon the right, having a grimy stucco fagade of 
baroque design, a low wooden ceiling, and countless frescoes 
of the Leonardesque school all over its walls, — more or less 
bad and imperfectly preserved. 

The principal church, Sts. Peter and Paul, appeared when 
I had advanced about as far again, looking down the long 
street from the eastern side of a wide piazza into which it 
debouched. The edifice was brand-new, of white stucco 
with grey trimmings, and of fair renaissance design both 
inside and out; the spacious interior being remarkable for 
its good taste and freedom from over-ornamentation. It 
was encouraging to find this evidence of a turn for the 
better. The piazza itself was lined with stuccoed arcades, 
containing groups of cafe-tables, and, although it was not 
a market-day, was thronged with peasantry and towns- 
people, whose decent clothes betokened their prosperity. A 
couple of modern monuments graced the central space, and 
at one side was the terminus of the tramway line from 
Milan. Beyond the piazza, still eastward, the town con- 
tinued along the highway for another third of a mile, in 
the shape of more recent residences, surrounded by lawns 
and gardens. 

By the middle of the afternoon I was out of the place, 
rolling northward again toward the lake-region. We had 
not proceeded many miles before a noticeable alteration of 
the scenery occurred: the perfectly flat plain gave way to 
a country gently undulating here and there, rising now 
and then into knolls covered with wood or graced by villas. 
We were upon the steady ascent which mounts so quickly 
yet imperceptibly from the 400 feet elevation of the Milanese 
to the 1,250 feet of the Varese tableland. The route was 



SARONNO AND VARESE 133 

northwest, gradually converging upon the valley proper of 
the Olona. At Tradate (1,000 feet) the mountains of the 
lake-region loomed into view ahead, in a stupendous, awe- 
some semicircle, behind the detached height of the famous 
Monte dei Fiori. This stands a few miles northwest of 
Varese, in isolated grandeur between the lower ends of Lakes 
Lugano and Maggiore, rising abruptly from the swelling 
tableland to a height of 7,300 feet; and is celebrated, not 
only for its view, but chiefly for the shrine of the Madonna 
del Monte, founded by St. Ambrogio many centuries ago; 
this is perched upon its shoulder, 3,000 feet in air, and is 
one of Italy's greatest pilgrimage resorts. It is, in fact, 
Varese's chief attraction; and I looked eagerly at its glit- 
tering white pinnacle upon the distant crag. 

At the station of Venegono Superiore, shortly beyond, I 
knew we were but a mile and a half from the stream and 
gorge of the Olona. I Hid not descend for Castiglione, 
because of the supposed primitiveness of its Inn accommo- 
dations; reserving my visit — as one can do very easily — 
for a day's trip from Varese. A little later we joined with 
the line running from Varese to Como, then turned west- 
ward, and, after a short stop at Malnate, came at last to 
the Olona canyon itself. As the train slowly crawled over 
it upon an attenuated, shaky trestle, I saw its grassy bottom 
meandering between the precipitous banks three hundred 
feet below. Once across, we followed its right bank, to 
the northwest again; and on approaching Varese, executed 
a volte-face, making a complete semicircle before pulling 
into the station at the city's southeastern side. 

Descending, I found another station close at hand upon 
the left, that of the other line, which climbs the western 
side of the Olona valley, via Busto Arsizio and Gallarate. 
From both stations streets quickly converge upon the main 



134 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

avenue of the town, Corso Roma, which proceeds north- 
westward through the centre. This I followed, bag in 
hand, finding it lined by modern, plastered buildings of four 
and five stories, with large electric trams coursing in both 
directions; and a six or seven minutes' walk brought me to 
the imposing Albergo Italia, — a handsome, square building 
located near the city's centre, just at the commencement 
of the Corso's mediaeval arcades. To my pleasure, it proved 
a most attractive, well-kept hostelry of the older style, with 
excellent rooms, service and cooking, and low prices. My 
large front chamber cost me but 2.50 lire per day. In 
the summer-time it is frequented by numbers of the English 
and Germans who come to Varese for long stays; though 
the great majority of them rest at the Grand Hotel Ex- 
celsior, which is situated amidst extensive grounds, a mile 
to the west of the town, — a genuine old summer resort of 
the first class, with high prices, and magnificent views over 
the rolling countryside with its lakes. 

Though so modern now in appearance, Varese is an 
ancient place, having been an important military post in 
Roman times, when it was surrounded by a heavy wall and 
a deep ditch, remains of which can still be seen. It retained 
its importance in subsequent ages, and suffered much in 
mediaeval days through its possession being disputed in the 
successive wars of the Milanese; for it is not only the nat- 
ural capital of this rich upland region, but from its situation 
controls many of the routes leading northward between Lakes 
Como and Maggiore. The Swiss frontier now lies but 
half a dozen miles to the northeast; and the city is conse- 
quently one of the chief headquarters for smugglers and 
their plots. But yesterday, as I write, the leaders of a 
notorious band were arrested in their hiding-place, headed 
by a certain famous marchese who has for years past con- 



SARONNO AND VARESE 135 

ducted his operations on an unprecedented scale, with hun- 
dreds of men and vast quantities of illicit goods; regular 
caravans of these porters traverse the unfrequented passes 
by midnight, and actual battles often occur with the frontier 
guards. 

Varese and her territory were successively possessed by 
the houses of Visconti and Sforza, the Spanish viceroys, and 
the Austrians; but later she experienced an exceptional fate, 
in that the town itself was handed over by Empress Maria 
Teresa to Francis III, Duke of Modena, as a friendly gift 
for the purposes of the latter's villeggiatura. He erected 
here a large palace, with beautiful gardens, in which he 
held a brilliant court during the heated season. " It was 
this prince who first launched Varese on its commercial and 
industrial career. He instituted and encouraged its agri- 
cultural enterprises, and would seem to have been an en- 
lightened and judicious ruler, far in advance of his times." ^° 
After his death in 1780, however, Varese soon reverted to 
Austrian control, which was maintained until her famous 
plebiscite of i860, that made her the first city in Italy to 
accept the government of Savoy. 

So thoroughly has this town of i8,ooo inhabitants been 
rebuilt by their modern prosperity, that it contains within 
its limits few objects of interest. On starting out the next 
morning I followed the main street, Corso Roma, north- 
westward through its arcades with their bright shops and 
cafes, to the near-by Piazza Porcari, — a small triangular 
space at the city's centre. Thence the Corso Vittorio 
Emanuele diverged to the north, likewise ; arcaded and de- 
voted to business. A short way up this, opened the small 
Piazza del Podesta, containing a good recent bronze mon- 
ument, — of a soldier holding a battle-flag and a gun, with 

16 Richard Bagot's " The Lakes of Northern Italy." 



136 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

an Inscription upon the base to the " Cacciatori delle Alpij — • 
who, on the morning of May 26, 1859, under the leadership 
of Garibaldi, fought and conquered, acclaiming for Italy 
and the King." This reminded me that It was here, at 
Varese, that that independent chieftain won one of his most 
important battles, driving back with his Irregular volun- 
teers the northern forces of the Austrians, and freeing the 
whole lake region, — while their main body was being en- 
gaged by the French and Piedmontese armies at Magenta. 

*' Garibaldi, who had been the last to leave Lombardy in 
1848, was now the first to set foot in Its territory In 1859. 
Since the 23d of May, he had led his own Cacciatori to 
the Lombard shores of Lago Magglore, had defeated the 
Austrians at Varese, entered Como, routed the enemy afresh 
at San Fermo, and was now proceeding to Bergamo and 
Brescia, with the Intention of reaching the Alps of the 
Trentino, to cut off the enemy's retreat." ^'^ He entered 
Bergamo on June 8th, the same day that the allies made 
their triumphal entry Into Milan. — ^A bust of Garibaldi In 
bronze-relief appropriately adorns the face of the granite 
pedestal, and other reliefs of piled arms decorate Its sides. 

Directly opposite this, upon the eastern side of the piazza, 
the arcades which encircle it are broken by a tall monu- 
mental archway framed in marble, superimposed by a second 
story which is elaborately adorned with stucco arabesques 
upon frieze and corniced window-frame, and crowned by a 
classic pediment with three marble statues, — a central figure 
flanked by two charming putii. In the arch Is framed a 
pleasing vista: beyond its deep passage opens another and 
more spacious piazza, behind which rises a fine renaissance 
church fronted by massive columns, with a lofty, detached, 
impressive campanile soaring beside It. It Is the parochial 

i^Orsi's "Modern Italy," Chap. XIV. 



SARONNO AND VARESE 137 

church of San Vittore, dating from earliest ages, though now 
a structure of the cinquecento, designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi. 
The imitation stone f agade, is still later, of the 1 8th century : 
the nave being faced by four ionic columns, and the lower 
aisles by ionic pilasters, while the large flat pediment is 
topped by a bronze cross upheld by two pretty marble cher- 
ubs. 

I approached to examine the remarkable campanile, also 
by Pellegrino, which is the most conspicuous object in the 
city, rising to a height of 246 feet. It is of seven tall divi- 
sions, diversely constructed of grey limestone and red brick 
with trimmings of the same, decorated with classic window- 
frames, and clock-faces bordered by huge stone lion-heads; 
the handsome belfry opens with triple renaissance windows, 
each having two pairs of coupled doric columns, and its 
heavy cornice is topped by a balustrade, crowned with stone 
vases filled with fruits; thence it terminates in a baroque 
octagonal lantern, and a byzantine cupola. The labour 
upon it must have been enormous. Another costly baroque 
construction is the church's lofty peak, consisting of an ex- 
traordinary octagonal drum, with elaborate pilastered win- 
dows, a lantern, and a flashing, gilded dome. 

After a glance around the other sides of this piazza, built 
up with three-storied dwellings painted in soft hues of red 
and drab and yellow, I entered the round-arched nave, which 
proved to have been redecorated in baroque days; decadent 
frescoes and stucco reliefs covered the walls and vaulting, 
and the sides of the low aisles were solidly hung with huge, 
dark, regressive canvases. The best works were those over 
the recessed side-altars, and at the apsidal ends of the tran- 
septs, — groups of enormous saintly figures, life-like but un- 
interesting, by Morazzone, Crespi, and other late Lom- 
bards. The lines of the edifice were good and spacious; the 



138 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

transept, nave and choir were equally wide and deep, and the 
dome imposing; while the choir seized the eye with its great 
masses of black, carved wood, doubtless painted, but still 
very effective, — consisting of two music lofts, and two pul- 
pits at the front angles, all quite large, and sculptured be- 
yond the power of pen to describe. The splendid high pul- 
pits were sustained each by four hermes of heroic size, — 
saints and mitred bishops; and four bishops of solid silver 
were posed upon the altar. One more noticeable object was 
the realistic Crucifixion, with lifesize figures of wax or 
stucco, posed in a side altar-recess, which was cleverly and 
vividly lighted by rows of electric bulbs concealed within 
the frame. 

Walking around the exterior, I observed in the Piazza 
della Canonica, behind the apse, a most curious, mediaeval 
well-top of painted stucco, covered, and opening upon one 
side only; near it was one of those strange old palaces with 
its architectural details entirely painted, — the windows en- 
dowed with fanciful baroque frames. In still another small 
piazza, beside the right transept, and behind the campanile, 
I found the very old, romanesque baptistery, — a square 
building with a grey stone face; the pilaster-strips at its an- 
gles, with mouthing faces peering out from the leaves of their 
capitals, and the arcaded cornice along the eaves, were of 
Lombard design; but the round-arched portal, recessed four- 
fold, with the antique image of the Lamb upon its lintel, 
showed gothic influence in the caps of its columns, and con- 
tained in its lunette a gothic fresco of Madonna and saints. 
In the right side-wall opened a gothic, pointed doorway, of 
good form, with another quaint early Madonna frescoed in 
its lunette. Thus the building was clearly of the transition 
period, — probably the later part of the trecento. Inside 
there was a single lofty chamber, with the ancient font in its 



SARONNO AND VARESE 139 

centre, and in the rear a low-arched altar-recess, broad and 
deep, upon whose walls lingered remnants of quattrocento 
frescoes. Here, upon the altar, stood Varese's one fine paint- 
ing, — a splendid example of Gerolamo Giovenone of Ver- 
celli, Gaudenzio Ferrari's fellow-pupil and follower. It 
represents a seated Madonna with her Child, flanked by 
John the Baptist and another saint, — the latter a handsome 
youth in long-hose, velvet cap and cloak; and though not a 
work of genius, it is a picture of much charm. 

The font was also quite interesting, — its octagonal, grey 
stone base being cut upon each face with two or three figures 
of saints, about two feet in height, which were evidently 
works of the early Middle Ages, — prior at least to the 14th 
century. The front side exhibited the Christ with John the 
Baptist, and a bishop, — probably the town's protector; two 
of the sides were still in a rough, uncarved state. This 
stone of indefinite antiquity, upon which so many generations 
of Varesans have been baptised, without exception, for nearly 
a millennium, — is naturally very much prized by the people. 
Its ornate wooden cover is modern. 

Retraversing the Piazza del Podesta, I investigated an 
archway in its western arcade, behind the monument, dis- 
covering that it led immediately to a curious old colonnaded 
courtyard of some size, surrounded by stuccoed arches upon 
granite columns, whose spandrels were decorated with the 
remains of gay Renaissance paintings; these were medallions 
containing busts of elaborately dressed personages, and other 
designs more fantastic. It had clearly been once the court- 
yard of a showy cinquecento palace; the thought was sad- 
dening, when contemplating its present abandonment and de- 
cay. But it turned out to form now a passage to the street 
in its rear; turning to the left in which, a few paces brought 
me to the Via Luigi Sacchi, — the northwestern continuation 



140 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of Corso Roma beyond the Piazza Porcarl. Here I beheld, 
to the right, an enormous stuccoed palace, stretching for a 
couple of hundred yards along the avenue's southwestern side : 
it was the " Corte " of Duke Francis, — now used as the 
Municipio. 

In spite of Its great length this building was not Impres- 
sive; for it had but three storeys In the central portion, two 
storeys in the wings, and exhibited the cheap appearance of 
the later rococo period. It was painted a light rose colour, 
now faded, with brown trimmings of pilaster-strips and 
baroque window-frames; the top parapet was graced only by 
a few vases and gables; all other ornamentation lay In the 
three grey stone entrances, equidistant, — the central of which 
was a granite archway framed by doric columns, and topped 
by a long balcony, upon whose railing, as well as from the 
central gable overhead, glistened the gilded ducal arms of 
the long-dead prince. Advancing to this portal, I caught 
through its archway a delightful vista of the gardens behind : 
beyond a deep stretch of turf and flowerbeds mounted curv- 
ing green terraces, one upon another, to a considerable height, 
crowned by a splendid grove of cypresses; near the foot of 
the imposing semicircle there glistened a marble memorial of 
Umberto I, upon a high stone pedestal, and still higher, a 
marble statue upon a triple-arched grotto of grey and white 
stripes, that backed a splashing fountain. It was a beautiful 
scene, — much like the Boboli gardens at Florence. 

It spread itself wide before me as I entered, revealing four 
magnificent evergreens — two larches and two cypresses — 
ornamenting the enclosed level behind the flowerbeds; flank- 
ing the natural theatre were square-cut lines of tall box- 
hedges, shaped Into alleys and archways, backed In turn by 
larger groves of trees, — grand old elms, birches, maples and 
other cypresses; everywhere through the parterre ran wind- 



SARONNO AND VARESE 141 

ing gravelled paths, with benches at intervals, upon which a 
few people were sitting idly. It was now the city's pleasure- 
ground. But what a charming picture must it have pre- 
sented in those bygone days of the royal court, when wan- 
dered over by gay dames d'honneur in the costumes of Marie 
Antoinette, attended by courtiers in silken small-clothes, 
rapiers and powdered hair, who followed the fashion of Ver- 
sailles in seeking rustic scenes. 

Over the western treetops there soared afar into the sky 
an object that lent its final majesty to the scene: a tremen- 
dous rocky mountain-top, — a bare and beetling pinnacle, 
reaching to the clouds, — crowned upon its very apex with 
a towered church and clustering houses, whose gleaming 
white walls seemed not a league away. It was indeed a 
startling sight, this village of the sky, suspended there so 
far in heaven, without the base that sustained it being visible. 
But I knew it for the shrine of the Sacromonte, on the shoul- 
der of the Monte dei Fiori. 

In the palace itself there was little of interest, — its plain, 
grey, stuccoed walls running away on each hand from the 
central colonnaded court. Through its middle, lengthways, 
extended an unbroken corridor, connecting with the four 
smaller courts, and lined with many busts and monuments 
to the patriots of the Risorgimento. In one wing were lo- 
cated the city's post and telegraph offices; in another, its 
solitary museum, composed of unimportant antiquities of va- 
rious kinds. 

Along Corso Roma and past the palace run several lines 
of tramcars, one of them bound for the Sacromonte, another 
for the western region about Lake Varese. It was one of 
the latter cars that I took that afternoon, — a large, com- 
fortable, electric tram, of a single class, run very swiftly, as 
they are upon all the routes. It turned to the left just be- 



142 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

yond the " Corte," and sped southwestward over the undu- 
lating countryside, following a highway, which brought us 
within not more than a mile to the gates of the park of Hotel 
Excelsior, at Casbeno village. I wandered through the 
shady roads of the pleasant wood, coming out upon the lofty 
garden before the hotel-building, — which was for centuries 
a famous villa of one of the great Milanese families. The 
garden was charming, the old villa spacious and imposing; 
but that which I had come for was the wonderful view, so 
long celebrated, that spread from the terrace over countless 
leagues of country, revealing the whole topography of the 
district. 

Just below on the west lay the shining Lago di Varese in 
its shallow basin, an elongated triangle 6 or 7 miles in length ; 
beyond it glistened amongst gentle wooded hills the smaller 
lakes of Biandronno, Monate and Comabbio; to southward 
the rich uplands billowed softly away to the plain, their 
elevations crowned by towered villages. Behind me rose 
still higher the hillside on which I stood, stretching far to 
east and west, and laden with countless villas, — stately, 
stuccoed edifices ensconced in wooded grounds. Upon the 
near slope to the northwest, I saw the new Casino of Varese 
with its heavy dome, which has just been opened to supply 
the foreign visitors with amusements. Behind it closely, 
rose the picturesque pinnacle of the Sacromonte, and behind 
that again, the vast mass of the Monte dei Fiori, soaring 
steeply from the northern shore of Lake Varese. In the far 
west, clouds now concealed the horizon; but when the sun 
sinks clear, the whole range of Monte Rosa glitters in plain 
view from here, a hundred mighty icicles against a reddening 
sky. Here if anywhere could Addison have written to Lord 
Halifax: 



SARONNO AND VARESE 143 

"Poetic fields encompass me around 
And still I seem to tread a classic ground. 
For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung 
That not a mountain rears its head unsung." 

Still more fully were the splendid riches and views of 
this countryside revealed the next day, as the tramcar bore 
me to the sacred mountain. Ever5rwhere over the rolling 
fields glistened the white walls of villas and prosperous farm- 
houses; and villages studded the landscape. " Silk, oil, grain, 
flax, grapes, and fruit of all kinds are among the abundant 
produce of the Varesotto; while rich pasture-lands, scien- 
tifically irrigated at the proper seasons of the year, support 
quantities of cattle, and form the necessary base for vast 
dairy-farms and cheese factories, which export their material 
far beyond the Alps." ^^ The route led northwestward upon 
the continuation of Via Luigi Sacchi, passing the town of S. 
Ambrogio, steadily ascending to Fogliaro, and then climbing 
the mountain's base by means of a large loop, — till we reached 
the station^ of the Prima Capella ; there commenced the ex- 
traordinary ancient highway which leads windingly up the 
face of the crag, past sixteen separate chapels, to the village 
at the summit. We could see its repeated loops, far above 
on the steep, wooded slope, marked by their white parapets 
and successive chapel-buildings, domed and shining; while 
.over all loomed the amazing supreme pinnacle, with its cone 
of huddled dwellings around the shrine. 

Here all the genuine pilgrims of the train commenced their 
climb of the sacred mountain on foot, as well as those visitors 
who would make the approach in proper manner, as it was 
made for over two centuries before electric traction was 
dreamed of; the rest kept on to the terminal station at the 

18 Richard Bagot's "The Lakes of Northern Italy." 



144 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

western base, where the crag adjoins the Monte del Fiori; 
and thence ascended quickly to the summit by the recent 
funkolare. From the same terminus another funicular, now 
nearly completed, will soon carry travellers to the top of the 
loftier mountain, and Its new " Grand Hotel," — whence 
they will enjoy one of the grandest panoramas In Italy. 

But no one who has the requisite strength should miss 
that wonderful climb on foot, with the uplands and plain 
ever widening out below him, flashing with their silvery lakes, 
dotted with their countless towns and villages ; — while the 
ever succeeding chapels, with their huge sculptured groups 
showing the life of the Saviour, lead the visitor step by step 
through the scenes of His childhood and His Passion, till 
the end is reached at the sanctuary Itself. This extraordi- 
nary work was accomplished through the efforts of a Capu- 
chin monk, Agugglarl, at the beginning of the 17th century, 
who by years of fervent preaching, all over Lombardy, 
collected more than a million francs for the purpose; with 
that sum, through 70 years of labor, ending In 1680, the 
approach was made and beautified. All these chapels are of 
considerable size, — square, stuccoed buildings 20 to 30 feet 
In height, finely domed, with ornate entrance-porches and 
steps, and rich baroque decorations; a number are truly 
handsome; all are strikingly situated upon cliffs or knolls of 
the mountain-side, In clear view of the panorama below. 
Their effective rococo Interiors, elaborately finished, are really 
frames to the large sculptured groups of llfesize figures, exe- 
cuted In terracotta with painted backgrounds, by prominent 
artists of their period ; and these achieved a realism of scene, a 
lifellkeness of the personages, a faithful representation of 
human emotions, which have few equals anywhere. 

Each chapel Is devoted to one tableau, commencing at the 
base of the slope with the Conception of the Virgin, and 



SARONNO AND VARESE 145 

ending next the summit with her Assumption. Those which 
I found to be especially remarkable were, the Presentation 
at the Temple, which Is wonderfully lifelike, in a building 
of pronounced beauty; the Disputa, the Agony In the Gar- 
den, and the Jesus falling under the Cross, — all three, like 
the Conception, by Francesco Silva; the Ascension, also by 
him; and the splendid Crucifixion, by DIonigi Bussola, which 
makes one a genuine witness of the awful Tragedy. 

At the head of the final ascent beyond the last chapel, 
which approaches the summit on the side toward Varese, I 
came to an enormous statue of Moses, that was posed before 
an ornamental, columned, stone wall, looking down the high- 
way. Beyond it, slightly higher, opened a paved terrace 
along the southern side of the village, faced by two small 
inns for the accommodation of pilgrims. This was the finest 
view-point of all: Varese and her lake lay at my feet; the 
smaller waters beyond gleamed like a chain of jewels; the 
uplands rolled southward Into the limitless, hazy plain; and 
far on the west circled the mighty peaks of the sunset Alps. 

From this terrace a street — If such it could be called — 
led me windingly through the ancient mass of houses, built 
together like a huge stone rabbit-warren, to keep each other 
from falling off; westward along the narrow summit I groped 
my way darkly, through succeeding tunnels and courts, — de- 
cay and abandonment showing themselves in the ruinous walls, 
the shattered doorways, the boarded windows and the mould- 
ering odours; till finally there opened out a tiny piazza, at 
the very apex, between the church on one hand and the an- 
cient monastery on the other. The former was simply faced 
by a crumbling stuccoed porch, upon several steps, supported 
by two stone columns. I entered at once, to find myself in a 
low arched nave, flanked by narrow aisles, with Its walls and 
vaulting one solid mass of decadent, gilded, stucco decoration. 



146 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

This was a further result of the zeal of Fra Aguggiari. 
The church really dates from about the 13th century; before 
which there was a prior edifice, probably erected in the days 
of St. Ambrose, the founder. The aisles were now closed 
from the transept by altars, over which, and in a recess of the 
left wall, I noticed three curious plaster groups of lifesize 
figures, — those in the recess, glazed but somewhat chipped, 
giving a really beautiful representation of the baptism of 
Christ. The high-altar was located under the central cupola 
of the transept, in which were dimly visible som.e remnants 
of cinquecento frescoing. The dusk, in fadt, was unusual, 
due to the smallness of the dingy windows; and when the 
sacristan, in response to my request to be shown the miracu- 
lous Madonna for which the shrine was built, turned on a 
sudden flood of electric light above the altar, the effect for 
an instant was fairly startling. There leapt from obscurity 
into dazzling brilliance, surrounded by an oval halo of incan- 
descent bulbs, an antique wooden figure clad in a gorgeous 
silken dress, glittering with costly jewels upon its bosom, 
neck, hands, and painted forehead, and ridiculously over- 
laden with scores of silver hearts, that clung to every fold 
of the garments. 

This, then, was the crude occasion of so much fame, so 
much expenditure of time and money, so much piety and 
adoration, through half a thousand years, — this rude wooden 
image from the hand of some simple carver of the dark ages, 
which the wily monks here isolated had endowed with al- 
leged miraculous powers, in order to bring them wealth and 
station. It looked to be a work of the 13th century, though 
it might be still older; standing there within its deep niche, 
upon the altar-top, the mass of incongruous finery and baubles 
prevented any clear inspection. Certainly its functions had 



SARONNO AND VARESE 147 

been well performed, and those sparkling hearts might well 
be true offerings of grateful devotees, — for countless tales 
are told of the cures wrought by their implicit faith. 

l' interviewed the delightful, benevolent, old head-priest, 
in his living-room far below the choir, hewn out of the cliff- 
side, with little windows looking out upon the plain; and 
received both his benediction and a permission to visit the 
ancient crypt, which was now shut up, from the danger of its 
crumbling state. The sacristan led me to It through dark 
stairways and corridors, also hewn out of the solid rock, 
more than a thousand years ago; and ended at a small cave- 
like chamber, lighted only by the candles we bore, so low 
that my head knocked against the roof. The rows of col- 
umns were but three to four feet in height, very roughly 
cut, with capitals of the crudest sort, bearing out the belief 
that they were set up in the 7th century; crumbling with 
age, they no longer sufficed to support the floor of the pres- 
ent choir overhead, which was now shored up with pieces 
of timber. In one corner I observed the only remnants of 
the former decoration, a few lingering frescoes of the Giot- 
tesque trecento style, remarkably well preserved: a Nativity, 
a Christ between two saints, and other saintly figures, poor 
in drawing but quaint in execution, and still of a lively col- 
ouring. 

On emerging to the open air, I kept on shortly to the west 
of the little piazza, descending several flights of steps, and 
reached the summit station of the funicolare. From this the 
whole tremendous flank of the Monte dei Fiori was visible 
close at hand, stony and precipitous, scarred by the workings 
for its new cable railway; and directly above loomed its 
forbidding peak, tipped by the unfinished building of its 
Grand Hotel, floating there amidst the clouds. — In a few 



148 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

minutes I was lowered rapidly to the base of the mountain; 
and I started back to Varese upon the electric car, feeling 
that I had experienced without doubt one of the most inter- 
esting excursions in all northern Italy. 



CHAPTER V 

CASTIGLIONE OLONA, LEGNANO AND BUSTO ARSIZIO 

"The peasants from the village go 
To work among the maize ; you know, 
With us in Lombardy, they bring 
Provisions packed on mules, a string, 
With little bells that cheer their task. 
And casks, and boughs on every cask 
To keep the sun's heat from the wine." 

Robert Broivning. 

The morning following my visit to the Sacromonte found 
me descending from the train at the station of Venegone 
Superiore, and inquiring for a vetturino. In this search I 
proved quite fortunate, finding a peasant with a clean new 
rig, a good Horse, an amiable disposition, and a scale of rea- 
sonable prices, — four lire only to Castiglione and back, re- 
turning late in the afternoon. This paragon, however, 
seemed to have no name; for the only response to my in- 
quiries was, — '' I am the Vetturale of Castelnuovo; and 
everybody knows me/' 

The country cross-road led westward between untrimmed 
hedges, thickly growing bushes, and rows of trees, which 
afforded intermittent vistas over the luxuriant fields, green 
with new crops, interspersed frequently with belts of wood- 
land. The amount of growing wood was surprising, through 
all this region, giving it an appearance more Anglo-Saxon 
than Lombard. Houses were frequent, also, — well-built 
stuccoed dwellings as a rule, betraying the careful hand of 
the individual proprietor; and we passed an occasional speci- 

149 



150 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

men of this rare class of peasants, who are seldom to be found 
farther south. " The capitalist farmer of the — Lombard 
plain, often with a capital of from £i6 to £20 per acre, [is] 
a busy, thrifty, shrewd man, of the type of the best English 
farmer, with little agricultural theory but great practical 
capacity ; a hard employer, — occasionally well educated, but 
always tied to his isolated life and narrow sympathies and In- 
terests. 



" 1 



We passed also a group of peasant girls of this class, — ten 
red-faced lasses packed together in a single two-wheeled cart, 
drawn by a single mule. They were gaily dressed, with 
bright bodices and fluttering ribbons, which matched their 
sparkling eyes and comely, laughing faces. Squeezed upon 
the floor of their clumsy vehicle, with rough- but well-shod 
feet hanging outward, they were clearly bound upon some 
errand of pleasure. 

In a half an hour we were descending the steep bank of 
the Olona gorge, which here appeared to have a depth of 
fifty or sixty yards and a width of a couple of hundred, or 
more. Near the bottom of the long descent, we were already 
amidst the houses of the village; Into one of which upon the 
right side the driver turned, through an archway leading to 
its courtyard. It was the little " Albergo di S. Antonio," 
kept by the young Giovanni Braga and his wide-awake 
spouse; but though small and crude, it proved so clean and 
homelike, with such well kept bedrooms and wholesome fare, 
rendered delectable by good Piemonte wine, that I wished 
I had arranged to stay a night or two. Two or three days 
can easily be given to Castiglione by the art-lover; and the 
sojourn in such primitive conditions of long-ago would have 
a charm of its own. In the long, low, heavy-beamed wlne"- 
room, smoked by untold generations of lamps, the villagers 

1 King and Okey's " Italy To-day." 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 151 

gather at evening to gossip and sing ; and the traveller mounts 
to his chamber in mediaeval fashion, with flickering candle, 
up the unroofed stairway in the airy court and around the 
open gallery overhead. 

After receiving directions, I started out down the re- 
mainder of the sloping street, turned to the right at its bot- 
tom, and soon reached the town piazza, — a large irregular 
unpaved space, with two other streets opening from Its north- 
ern side. At the western angle of that on the left stood one 
of the chief objects of interest, the very curious little church 
of S. Sepulcro; it was a cube-shaped, stuccoed structure, 
strangely decorated with grey limestone carvings, and topped 
by a round, plastered drum whose far-proje,cting eaves were 
upheld by a colonnade of slender stone shafts. Fluted Co- 
rinthian pilaster-strips reached from ground to cornice, three 
or four on each side ; the windows were small, square-headed, 
simply framed, and placed two on each side at a height of 
fully fifteen feet; the main portal, toward the piazza, bore a 
continuous scroll of fine arabesque reliefs on jambs and lintel, 
with a delightful frieze of festoons supported by tiny cherubs, 
and a pediment containing a half-figure of God the Father, 
flanked by little angels. All this carving was excellent work 
of the cinquecento^ in grey sandstone like the trimmings. 
But on each hand of the doorway against the plaster stood 
a startling, uncouth, gigantic figure of the same stone, crudely 
executed, — ■ a St. Christopher on the right, leaning upon an 
enormous knobby club like a Goliath, shouldering his usual 
infant with a look that suggested he was taking it home to 
eat, — and a S. Antonio della Campanella on the left, carry- 
ing a heavy cow-bell. These were doubtless coeval with 
the edifice; but beside the latter stood a still older statue of 
a saint, of lifesize, with face and hands crumbled away. 

At the eastern angle of the right-hand street rose another in- 



152 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

terestlng object, — the old Palazzo Castigllone, reared by 
Cardinal Branda Castiglione in the early quattrocento, whose 
stuccoed fagade was pierced by a series of beautiful gothic 
terracotta window-frames, now mostly built up, and by a 
larger one of sandstone, triple-arched and filled with stained 
glass, in the right wing. From the centre of the piazza — 
which, by the way, bore the strange name of Piazza del Padre 
Eterno — on facing about southward, I was greeted with a 
view of the eponymous, historic home of the great family of 
Castiglione (meaning simply "grand castello"), — from 
which also this village of 2,000 souls had received its appel- 
lation : ^ it was an enormous square castle, perched high above 
the town, upon a precipitous elevation projecting from the 
eastern bank of the dale. It was remarkable for corner 
towers of a colossal size, square and battlemented, and 
appeared to be in excellent preservation, rising without outer 
walls from the very brink of the cliffs. This fortified 
dwelling was first raised by Count Corrado in the loth 
century, was demolished by the Visconti in the 13th, and 
rebuilt by Cardinal Branda in the early 15th. Upon 
inquiry I learned that it was in the possession of its ancierit 
owners no longer, but in that of a prominent Milanese fam- 
ily, — who had restored it from a ruinous condition, and now 
regularly occupied it^ with abundant guests; but that admis- 
sion to sightseers was denied. 

Entering the church of S. Sepolcro, by its original quaint 
wooden doors, I found altars upon the right and rear sides 
of its square nave, — the former adorned with a quattrocento 

2 " The name of the place in Roman times was Castrum Stili- 
conium, and owed its origin to the Vandal general, Stilicho, who 
fixed his camp here in the days of Theodoric. Afterwards it was 
destroyed by Attila, and restored by Archbishop Ariberto of Milan." 
— ^Julia Cartwright's " Baldassare Castiglione." 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 153 

pala of Madonna and saints, the latter situated In an apsldal 
recess containing a poor cinquecento fresco of the Resurrec- 
tion. Around the walls stood a half dozen painted wooden 
statues of saints, llfesize and very old, raised four feet from 
the floor. The grimy plaster In Its crumbling away had 
disclosed here and there bits of the original surrounding fres- 
coes. But the chief object was a renaissance tomb of white 
plaster, ensconced In a niche high upon the left, adorned with 
fanciful moulded figures and reliefs In the style of Amadeo; 
the sarcophagus, covered with convoluted foliage and designs, 
was faced by three detached half-figures, of the Madonna 
and two saints, and Its gable terminated curiously In a sort 
of triple candelabrum, bearing upon Its tips statuettes of 
Christ between two cherubs; the last were the best executed, 
but none of the figures were very lifelike. Four coats of 
arms underneath Indicated a deceased of noble lineage, doubt- 
less of the Castlgllone family. 

Passing over to the palazzo, which appeared deserted, I 
finally roused a peasant caretaker who was prevailed upon 
to show the Interior. This, to my delight, proved to be con- 
served unaltered In Its early Renaissance condition, — a state 
which one finds nowadays only In some such occasional rural 
mansion. In the right wing of the piano nobile, reached by 
a stately staircase, stood the bedchamber and the library of 
Cardinal Branda Castlgllone, — the favourite of FIlIppo Ma- 
ria VIscontI, from whom he obtained riches, and permission to 
rebuild his ancestral castle; he was a devoted patron of the 
arts, and brought Masolino da Panlcale here from Florence 
about 1428. The furnishings of these rooms still remained 
unchanged from the day of his death. Here were his great 
canopied bed, his sllk-cushloned armchair, and his other fur- 
niture of exquisite marquetry-work; the walls of the bed- 
room were painted with black fruit trees upon a red ground, 



154 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

and white putti at intervals; the light was subdued to an 
ecclesiastical crepuscule by window-panes of purple and or- 
ange; the floor was of fine though broken mosaic. The 
library was paved with grey tiles, roofed with heavy beams, 
and painted with queer landscapes of town and country; in 
its farthest, upper, right-hand corner was pointed out to me 
a pretty female head, delicately moulded, which according 
to tradition was done by Masolino, as a friendly gift to his 
host and patron.^ 

The great hall of the palace was next reached, stretching 
along the rear of the main body, over the courtyard, — 
called " La Galleria " because of its rows of family por- 
traits. Of these there were 35 in all, going back 500 years, 
including the cardinal himself in brown shades on black. 
Four delightful old gothic doorways of carved oak opened 
Into the front rooms. At the end wall stood the chief 
artistic object of the mansion, — a splendid quattrocento 
chimney-piece, of grey cement imitating stone; it was sus- 
tained by four big Atlantes, and bore a handsome frieze of 
Roman arms alternating with Hermes; the top of white 
plaster was a modern addition, very rich in designs. An- 
other interesting chimney was shown me before departing, 
— that of the old kitchen, which was really of sandstone, 
finely proportioned, and cut with ornate consoles supported 
by slender columns. The Renaissance brick ovens and the 
array of burnished copper utensils were a sight in themselves, 
and they were still in use after a score of generations. 

Directly opposite the palace stood another building be- 
longing to the same family, decorated with a most striking 

3 According to Julia Cartwright, in her life of Baldassare Cas- 
tiglione, — who was a collateral descendant of the Cardinal — all 
of these frescoes were done by Masolino; but that is neither borne 
out by tradition, nor by their unequivocal poorness. 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 155 

renaissance stone entrance-arch, very wide and richly sculp- 
tured, resting upon square panelled pillars with foliated 
caps; the quoins were cut with a profusion of grapevines, 
scrolls, human busts, etc., and other scroll^ and little figures 
clambered along its decaying architrave. 

I returned to the inn for lunch; then started out again 
on the left-hand street, past S. Sepolcro, — keeping straight 
on, up an isolated hill some 60 yards in height, that rose 
from the bank of the river just north of the town. Halfway 
up, an old schoolhouse appeared on the left, upon the brink 
of the ravine here formed by the stream, bearing on its 
fagade a fairly well preserved quattrocento fresco, of the 
Madonna and two saints, with well moulded, graceful forms 
and faces, — probably another relic of Masolino's stay. At 
the top of the height there loomed through the trees the 
lofty brick walls enclosing his •masterpieces : here was the 
Collegiate Church, which was also built by Cardinal Branda 
Castiglione, and for whose decoration he engaged the Floren- 
tine artist. I found it facing westward upon a little en- 
trance-court at the very verge of the wooded chasm, which 
it overlooked ; a gothic archway admitted me to this pic- 
turesque, secluded terrace, where the only sound heard was 
the rushing of the invisible waters 300 feet below. 

On its right towered the red-brick gothic fagade: a high 
gabled nave, with lower aisles, embellished with a handsome 
portal and rose-window of white limestone, — the former 
recessed with fine gothic mouldings, and its lunette filled 
with excellent reliefs bearing the date, 1428. These were 
the symbols of the four Evangelists, in separate compart- 
ments, and above them, a tableau of the Madonna enthroned 
between two bishops and three friars. The small lancet 
windows at the sides were simple. Gothic arcaded cornices 
of terracotta graced the eaves. A shapely campanile rose 



156 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

between the nave and right transept, in several brick stages 
marked by similar cornices, to a belfry of single pointed 
arches, tipped by a round, slim, stuccoed spire. At the left 
of the fagade two round arches topped by gables and pinnacles 
opened into a side yard, a sort of court between the church 
and the other collegiate buildings, which were long, two- 
storied structures of stucco. 

This, then, was the place that has emerged from its long 
obscurity to be one of the world's most hallowed shrines 
of art; it was here, in these buildings still so fresh-looking, 
so pref ectly preserved — as is the way of red brick — that 
Tommaso di Panicale, called Masolino, hid away from the 
world that marvellous series of frescoes, which were destined 
to reappear centuries later, to re-establish his fame as the 
real founder of Tuscan painting, — to reveal him as the true 
pioneer of the quattrocento, the initiator of the perfected 
art, the first to break away from the traditions and degen- 
erated mannerisms of the Giottesque school, and depict real, 
tangible, individual human beings, with significance and ex- 
pression. The truth was long suspected by Florence; but 
as she could lay hold upon no authentic works of Masolino 
except the few questionable figures in the Brancacci Chapel 
— the Adam and Eve, and the St. Peter preaching — the 
mantle that Masolino should have worn was placed upon 
the shoulders of his pupil Masaccio, whose full powers were 
there displayed. The mighty step forward which Masolino 
had made, became but a myth, with naught sufficient to sup- 
port it; and so it was that his disciple's work became the 
admiration, the wonder, and the teacher of succeeding gen- 
erations. 

It was in the same year that Masaccio began his labours 
in the Brancacci, that Masolino was engaged, in this remote 
spot, in preserving for posterity that record of his genius 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 157 

which proves it to have been his hand that made the revolu- 
tion. For Masolino v^^as 18 years older than his pupil, hav- 
ing been born in 1383, and must therefore have developed 
his powers that much earlier. When we think of the art- 
conditions surrounding his youth, the wonder of his accom- 
plishment grows ever upon us: the decadence of the Giot- 
tesque style into graceless, unreal mannerisms, — as man- 
ifested by Agnolo Gaddi, then the Florentine leader, and 
continued by the Siennese, into perfectly wooden images; no 
paintings to learn or copy from, except their unnatural pro- 
ductions; no master to convey the rudiments of a proper 
method of representation. But if painting had languished, 
sculpture had not, and was even then making that extraor- 
dinary bound, from which we date the true opening of the 
Renaissance: in 1402 Lorenzo Ghiberti exposed to an 
.astounded public his model for the northern doors of the 
Baptistery. The effect upon Masolino, at his impressionable 
age, was immediate and profound, and can be clearly seen 
in his work; he proceeded to express in colours what Ghi- 
berti had modelled. A few years later he received the 
influence of another sculptor, his confrere, the young Dona- 
tello, whose slender grace of figure was added to the painter's 
accomplishments. 

Thus Masolino went ahead upon his own new line, with 
none of his own craft to instruct or modify him, — with the 
single exception of Fra Angelico still later, by whose method 
he was thenceforth influenced in his colouring, and in his 
depiction of angelic beings. But the latter was a small mat- 
ter, in Masolino's choice of subjects; in all the great essen- 
tials of his development he must have drawn upon himself 
alone, upon his own intuitive genius, given its impulse by 
the new sculpture. He rediscovered the secret of tactile 
value, in a high degree; he boldly launched out into the un- 



158 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

charted sea of realism, — Into the natural depiction of drap- 
ery, form, and perspective; he endowed his personages 
with individuality, dignity, and significance of gesture and 
expression; he became student and pioneer in the portrayal 
of the nude human figure; he invented a wonderful means 
of flesh-moulding and colouring; he learned the method of 
striking yet realistic composition, with powerful free spaces, 
effective grouping, and concentration on the principal fig- 
ures; he developed easy, dignified movement, and a high 
power of dramatic expression. His figures In the Brancacci 
reveal but few of these wonderful successes, but they are 
all demonstrated here at Castiglione. 

A great part of the praises that have been showered upon 
Masaccio's deeds belong therefore to Masolino, and these 
collegiate buildings must receive the priority so long usurped 
by the chapel. Much of the old laudation can even be 
transferred word by word : It Is Masolino's work that should 
be " usually spoken of as the earliest specimens of the 
painting of the (high) Renaissance. — This cycle of pictures 
may be regarded as a programme of the earlier art of the 
Renaissance, the Importance of which It served to maintain, 
even during the age of Raphael. Here the beauty of the 
nude was first revealed, and here a calm dignity was for 
the first time imparted to the Individual figures, as well 
as to the general arrangement; and the transformation of 
a group of indifferent spectators In the composition. Into a 
sympathising choir, forming as It were a frame to the prin- 
cipal actors In the scene, was first successfully effected." * 

Entering the church, I saw a dusky nave of gothic vault- 
ing, divided Into groined bays, whose cells were painted In 
the early quattrocento manner, with mdJallions and de- 
signs ; Its walls were upheld by round stone pillars with vile, 

*Prof. Anton Springer, on Masaccio and the Brancacci Chapel. 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 159 

squat capitals of gilded leaves; and it was flanked by low 
aisles without altars or chapels, pierced by frequent lancet 
windows. The choir projected forward between the last 
two pillars on each side, to a voluptuous railing of black 
and reddish brown marbles, leaving space behind the baroque 
high-altar for a confined, apsidal retrochoir, which was 
covered with old frescoes. 

These were Masolino's first productions here; but alas, — 
on approaching near I found them to be mostly ruined. 
On the apse-walls beside the windows, once adorned with 
scenes from the life of St. Stephen, there now remained de- 
cipherable but three fragmentary tableaux; in two of which 
the saint could be dimly discerned as standing before some 
judge or monarch, surrounded by many persons, and in 
the third as grouped with several others in a smaller chamber. 
All these figures still visible, however, were finely modelled, 
lifelike and vigorous, with splendidly poised heads and 
strong, individualised, expressive features. The ceiling was 
better preserved: the five triangular divisions of the groined 
vaulting held each a picture from the life of the Virgin, 
clearly discernible in its composition and outlines. They 
represented, from left to right, the Adoration of the Magi, 
Annunciation, Coronation of the Virgin, her Marriage, and 
the Birth of Christ; but realism had practically been ban- 
ished from every one by its narrow, elongated space. The 
damage here, too, had been so great, that in the Marriage 
alone could the master's qualities be made out; its figures 
happened to have escaped the general destruction sufficiently 
to show their remarkable moulding, naturalness, and sense 
of power; they were exquisitely draped, and graceful both 
in shape and pose, while their faces were full, of life and 
expression. One has only to compare them for an instant 
with the productions of Giottino or the Gaddi to realise 



i6o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

their worth and historical importance. The angel of the 
Annunciation still shone with the loveliness of Angelico, and 
the forms of the three Magi were fortunately distinct with 
a pleasing reality. The aged Cardinal Branda himself was 
visible in the Nativity, kneeling beside the manger. 

I was not disturbed by all this ruin, because the principal 
series of Masolino's frescoes remained to be seen In the 
baptistery, where they have been fortunately preserved by a 
coat of whitewash, lately removed. But there were two 
pieces of sculpture in this retrochoir worthy of notice: a 
delightful stucco tabernacle for the Host, of flamboyant 
gothic design, holding in Its gable a couple of kneeling 
Luinesque angels of much charm ; and the tomb of Cardinal 
Branda Castiglione, reposing in an open archway of the 
left wall, between choir and aisle. The latter was executed 
by Leonardus Griff us after the prelate's death, in 1443, and 
beautifully accords with his love of art. His lifeslze figure 
reclines in the accepted attitude on the top of the sarcophagus ; 
which is decorated by two little saints In niches, one above 
the other, at each angle, by a couple of striking Franciscan 
saints beside a crucifix at one end, and the forms of Sts. 
Stephen and Lawrence upon the other; the long Inscriptions 
upon the sides occupy scrolls upheld by pretty angels and 
cherubs; and the sarcophagus Is supported by four larger 
crowned saints of the gentler sex. It Is carved from the 
usual grey sandstone of the district, and Is a fine sample of 
the best Renaissance work. 

In the adjacent small chapel filling the end of the left 
aisle I observed a quaint gothic ancona of painted wood, or 
stucco. In three divisions, containing figures of the Madonna 
and saints, surmounted by half-figures and statuettes; slnd 
the corresponding chapel at the end of the right aisle held 
one still quainter and older, of six compartments, with a 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY i6i 

Christ In the upper centre, and two or three saints In each 
of the other divisions. Adjacent to the latter was the 
sacristy, which a solitary aged woman advanced to open 
for me. Here I was surprised by a considerable show of 
old churchly vestments, silver communion cups artistically 
decorated, Illustrated choir books, renaissance tapestries and 
embroideries, etc., all enclosed In a large glass cabinet. 
Among these things were a handsome gilded cross, a richly 
relieved Ivory coffer, and, chief of them all, a little unframed 
panel of the Annunciation, which was executed by Masolino 
in his leisure moments. Such being the subject, the Influ- 
ence of Fra Angelico shone predominant : the delicate, charm- 
ing Virgin, seated to right under an arcade, humble and 
receptive, and the brilliant angel appearing to left, with 
gilded wings and halo, might be taken directly from // 
Beato^s wonderful Annunciation In the Baptistery of Cor- 
tona. — From the small barred window here there opened 
a pleasing vista of the brown-tiled roofs in the vale below, 
extending away down to the Imposing, towered castle on Its 
hill. 

My conductor now led me through a doorway In the left 
aisle, across the treeless court, to a little building in Its 
farther corner ; in this simple structure, — covered with moul- 
dering stucco, but a single story in height, and looking, 
under Its front shed, like a dingy cow-stable, — had been 
hidden the priceless secret of the centuries. For in Cardinal 
Branda's day it had been used as a baptistery. Over the 
plain doorway appeared a^ hint of the treasures within, — 
the fragmentary heads and hands of a Madonna and an- 
nouncisag angel ; but such exquisite heads ! — dainty, refined, 
expressive, lovely, — they bore the clear stamp of Maso- 
lino. V^e entered ; — and from every wall and celling of 
the two little vaulted chambers, divided only by a wide 



i62 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

gothic archway, there burst upon my eyes a glistening flood 
of tenderest colours, radiating from countless beautiful hu- 
man figures in the costumes of long-ago, which were gathered 
in groups or assemblages, through continuous imposing land- 
scapes of mountains and valleys, and as angelic choirs in the 
blue vaults of heaven. 

Every foot of space had been covered with them, and 
glittered once with an effulgence of hues infinitely sur- 
passing the present, when their dazzling beauty must have 
been something quite beyond our prosaic conceptions; every 
bit of their vivid glory had later on been covered with white- 
wash, in a barbarism that is likewise inconceivable, but which 
we must thank for their preservation. Its removal, however, 
could not restore their pristine brilliancy, and left perforce 
many a vestment, not only untinted, but merely a scraped 
white outline. Still, the general effect remains astonish- 
ingly bright, the separate tableaux being clear in all but a 
few details of garment or background; and the great ac- 
complishments of Masolino are set forth irrefutably, for all 
time. The antique font is left in the centre of the first com- 
partment, but the altar has been long stripped from the plat- 
form of the second, and the place is now to be a national 
monument. The light enters from two small gothic win- 
dows, one in the left, and the other in the rear wall. 

My special attention w^as first drawn to the magnificent 
tableau occupying the whole of the right wall In the outer 
room, which was splendidly preserved, and so freely spaced 
that its two groups of figures, although lifesize, were small in 
comparison with the tremendous, glowering background of 
craggy mountain-sides; to the foot of their slopes extended 
a stately perspective of two vaulted colonnades, crowned by 
classic loggias; and at the front of these were being enacted 
two tense dramatic scenes* whose grimness was finely ac- 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 163 

centuated by the bare, dark summits l6oming overhead. 
On the left was King Herod seated at the banquet-table, 
with his daughter approaching to demand the life of the 
Baptist; on the right Salome was placing the head in her 
mother's lap, while the handmaidens drew back in horror. 
Here was wonderful composition. The tragedy of the • 
theme was well carried out by the few, lifelike actors, who 
were so tangible and real, so vivid in their individualities 
and expressions, so significant in their postures, that the 
mind was not at all distracted by the men's quattrocento 
dress. Everywhere were evident the keen touches of the 
master's genius: Herod and his counsellors were genuine, 
puffy, discursive old men, of intelligence and high position, — 
the white-haired priest seated next the king being Cardinal 
Branda himself, now over 80 years of age; the cold, de- 
termined character of Herodias shone from her middle- 
aged countenance, with its carefully tended, lingering come- 
liness; the unlined, careless features of the tire-girls were 
alight with real fear and dismay; the handsome faces of 
the young courtiers reflected their levity, and greater by the 
contrast appeared the proud, passionate, but lovely face of 
Salome, whose compressed, down-drawn lips and fixed eyes 
betrayed the storm within her. 

What a marvellous stride forward from the unreal images 
of the Giottesque school had been achieved by Masolino in 
figures such as these! All their details showed what a 
power of realistic execution he had developed from within 
himself: not only were the solidity, the tactile values, 
rendered tangible by Indiscernible shadings, the costumes 
and draperies fitted with natural folds that revealed the 
firm limbs beneath, and the different parts of the human 
body justly proportioned and attached; but, beyond all these 
was the truly marvellous quality of the fleshwork, — in 



i64 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

moulding, consistency, delicacy, softness, and a colouring 
exquisite beyond compare. Of all Masolino's accomplish- 
ments this last is both unique and supreme; the first to 
strike the delighted eye in looking at his work, and the last 
to linger in the mind, as a happy memory; not only an in- 
finite advance over the productions of all preceding and 
coexisting artists, but a creation that in my judgment has 
never since been surpassed. The tinting of the skin, in 
the females and the young men, vv^as of a most delicious 
pink, imperceptibly graduated, that can be likened only to a 
peach-blow vase, or a rose-petal in its first bloom, — the 
pink that we see sometimes in the faint flush of a perfect 
complexion of sixteen years ; it was not laid upon the cuticle, 
but seemed to permeate the whole tegument evenly, from 
within; it was not a blush, but the gentle glow of perfect 
health in a youthful body. This exquisite hue, which has 
emerged from the whitewash in such remarkable preserva- 
tion, was complemented by the pliable texture of the skin, 
its evident malleability and firmness conjoined, its perfect 
contours, its transparent delicacy and fairness; while its 
shapely moulding was done in an indefinable manner, with- 
out apparent shading, that yet gave an assured effect of 
corporality. 

The tender cheeks and long, slender necks of the women 
were therefore of a loveliness most singular and unforgettable ; 
and the young men, with their curling fair hair, were almost 
equally attractive. It was the same in the other pictures: 
all over the chambers shone these beautiful, unsmiling, softly 
erubescent faces. But on the same degree were the hands 
also ; in fact — and I say it without being carried away 
by enthusiasm — I have never seen any hands quite so grace- 
ful and expressive as the major part of these. Of the same 
excellence in their fleshwork, perfectly modelled and life- 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 165 

like, they were at once elegant in shape, alluring In pose, and 
of an astonishing eloquence in gesture; their movements 
were neither violent nor theatric, but every graceful finger 
seemed replete with meaning. Especially fine were the three 
pairs of lovely hands in the group of Herodias, Salome and 
the startled handmaiden. 

In the same picture was seen also the final act of the 
Baptist's story, — the entombment of his mutilated body, far 
up on the mountain-side in rear; there a few little figures 
were to be espied, laying the corpse in a sarcophagus, while 
one of them knelt beside it in tears. This was, then, the 
last tableau of the whole series, which together represented 
the principal events of St. John's life, — commencing with 
the writing of his name by Joachim, on the left wall of the 
outer room. But upon the left and entrance walls the 
painting had not been successfully restored, as elsewhere, — 
fortunately but little to be noticed, on account of the presence 
of the doorway and window. To left of the doorway there 
was dimly visible a group of grave men standing, of whom 
but two or three remained distinct; but the last two heads 
upon the left were as dignified, strong, and full of ch'aracter 
as any of the Brancacci Chapel, — perhaps more so. To 
right of the doorway there could be made out what was 
evidently a Visitation, — with one very lovely young female 
head just peeping from the submerged spectators. Upon 
the vaulting lingered the four Evangelists, done in a more 
careless manner. On the left wall naught remained but 
the figures of Joachim, his wife, and the infant St. John, 
with the perspective of a long, vaulted hall upheld by col- 
umns; the old man, with a sweeping white beard, was 
writing the chosen name upon a table, and his wife stood 
by, holding the child. This scene must once have been very 
eliEective. 



i66 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The wide pointed archway dividing the rooms had not 
been omitted from Masolino's labours: on its front side, to 
right, there appeared a soldier slaying a man lying at his 
feet, probably intended for the execution of the Baptist, — 
a striking picture, in both senses; above the arch were two 
flying angels, holding a scroll over the keystone; upon the 
left, — all had been destroyed. The broad soffit was covered 
with six seated figures of saints, in separate compartments, 
— aged, snowy-bearded men, engaged in reading or writing ; 
the two lowest upon the left side were gone, the others still 
clear and realistic, — especially the St. Ambrose and St. 
Jerome, with their severe, ascetic faces, expressive of deep and 
holy thought; which proved the master to have been as 
expert in the portrayal of such characteristics as he was in 
youthful comeliness. 

Coming to the rear chamber, — which was considerably 
smaller than the outer, having been designed simply for the 
altar upon its dais — I observed to left a scene of the 
Baptist preaching to a crowd of people, now mostly de- 
stroyed; but the other walls were resplendent with four 
grand tableaux, finely preserved, and the vaulting was radiant 
with celestial beings. Here was the acme of Masolino's 
labours. On the right was a daring theme, ingeniously 
conceived and effectively carried out, — St. John in prison, 
seen only through the outer bars of his cell, guarded by 
a soldier. From that inner duskiness stood forth his care- 
worn face and attenuated, kneeling form, as he raised his 
eyes heavenward in anguished prayer; his sufferings, his 
want, his enthusiastic faith, his devotion of self, were all 
stamped upon that meagre, holy countenance, and cleverly 
accentuated by the gloom and the grating. Adjacent on 
the rear wall, below, he had been brought up from his prison 
into the presence of the King and Queen, and was delivering 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 167 

to Herod that awful admonition for his wickedness; its 
severity was evident in the saint's glowing eye, in his out- 
stretched denunciatory finger, and in the clearly alarmed 
soldier who clung to him behind, fearful of danger to the 
sovereign and anxious to drag back the prisoner to his cell. 
This jailor's face is one of the most expressive of the whole 
series. 

As for the other three faces, their perfect identity with 
those of the same characters in the subsequent scenes well 
shows Masolino's minute care; and that of Herodias here, 
still cold and disdainful, is the most striking of the series in its 
wondrous modelling and delicate skin. Unmistakably belong- 
ing to a middle-aged woman, and of irregular features, yet 
it is made surpassingly lovely, and keenly alive with intelli- 
gence; her agitation is shown in the beautiful hand, which 
is slightly lifted in dismay. She is indescribably charming, in 
spite of the proud, selfish character marked in the mouth and 
eye. In effective contrast with her elegance stands the 
rough, emaciated figure of the saint, his gaunt limbs and 
naked feet protruding from the single, dilapidated garment, 
his fanatical expression deepened by the long, untrimmed, 
black hair and beard. Yet this is In no way overdrawn. 

He appears again, to still better effect, in the scene upon 
the opposite side of the rear window, where he is identical 
in form, but clad in a dark cloak and undyed goatskin shirt; 
listening to his words is a gathering of country folk, in- 
cluding Christ and several of the Apostles, — the head of 
the Saviour being distinguished by its pure, serene, thoughtful 
expression. This was evidently the meeting of Jesus and 
St. John. The following, supreme scene of the latter's life 
is placed just above, filling the whole upper half of the 
arched back wall, — the baptism of the Saviour. Located 
thus appropriately, above the altar, where it commands all 



1 68 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of the enclosure, it is also the chef d'oeuvre of the series. 
Here Masolino has excelled himself. Its tremendous land- 
scape of rugged mountains, stretching afar in imposing, par- 
allel chains, that enclose a weird and barren-looking valley, 
— forms an effective setting for the great action In the 
foreground, accentuating its sublimity, and drawing at once 
the attention of whosoever enters the chapel. 

Down the middle of the strange valley flows a winding 
stream, in whose rippling water, at the centre of the fore- 
ground, stands the comely figure of the Christ, naked but 
for the loin-cloth, submerged as far as the knees; His head 
is slightly bent, His eyes down-cast. His hands somewhat 
raised in an unconscious attitude of emotion, as St. John 
pours the cupful of blessed liquid upon His crown. The 
latter kneels upon the right-hand bank, a little raised, — the 
same, gaunt, skin-clad devotee, — stretching out one arm to 
perform the ceremony. Behind him four men are removing 
their garments, evidently for the purpose of receiving the 
same rite, — probably intended to represent disciples, for 
two have heads identical with apostles in the last mentioned 
tableau; the other two have entirely undressed, one facing 
the spectator and the second showing his back. Thus did 
Masolino effect a natural demonstration of his study of the 
nude; and these results are marvellous, standing forth pre- 
dominant in the picture. The remaining figures, to the left 
of the Christ, consist of three delightful young angels, hold- 
ing His garments, clad in plain dark robes but with lovely 
heads. 

Here again is magnificent composition: the grand back- 
ground with its far perspective, the free spacing, the natural 
but balanced grouping centering in the Saviour, the dramatic 
significance of disposition and gesture, all concentrate the 
attention upon the supreme ceremony. And there one sees 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 169 

a form of unsurpassed shapeliness, perfect in proportions, stal- 
wart yet fair, and of undeniable materiality and firmness of 
flesh, which have been rendered with consummate skill; in 
general poise, and in the shape and gesture of the hands, it is 
graceful beyond expression; so that when one remembers the 
inability of Masolino's predecessors to portray the nude at all, 
or even properly to indicate a body within a garment, when 
he thinks of their ignorance of the proportions and articula- 
tions of the human f rafne, — he gazes in amazement at this 
beautiful Christ, wondering at the genius that within one 
lifetime had made such a giant evolution. 

This first true exposition of the human body is completed 
by the naked figures on the right, — figures with more of virile 
power and firmness and less of grace, but of astonishing 
realism in every limb and line; that bared back must be 
said to be perfect, — not a muscle omitted or misplaced. I 
can think of nothing that was done to equal these forms for 
over half a century thereafter, — nor until Signorelli's work 
at Orvieto, about 1500. And what is it that they remind 
us of so strongly, — these stalwart men undressing by a 
stream? They were the first, and real, precursors of Michael 
Angelo's great cartoon of the Bathing Soldiers surprised by 
the Enemy, which was designed for Florence's Palazzo Vec- 
chio nearly a century later. 

Upon the vaulting of the rear chamber, finally, I inspected 
with much pleasure the composition of the Eternal Father sur- 
rounded by angels, in Masolino's entirely different vein. He 
was indeed versatile. This was a work entirely decorative, 
with an eye to beauty alone; and so he abandoned realism 
for the charming forms and hues of the Angelico manner. 
In the azure heaven sparkling with golden stars appeared 
the half-figure of the Almighty, within a black medallion ; 
roundabout fluttered nine angels, emerging from little clouds, 



I70 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

clad in flowing robes finely draped and of the tenderest 
bright tints; the shining wings were small, the hair golden 
and fluffy, and the sweetly rounded, roseate young faces 
were all directed toward the Father. The very simplicity 
of the composition, its freedom from numbers, background 
and accessories, augmented its loveliness of form and colour. 

Italy has produced an elaborate quarto volume, with fifty 
full-page photogravure plates, upon the rare artistic treasures 
of this little town : it is entitled, " II Borgo di Castiglione 
Olona," and is written by the talented Dr. Diego Sant' 
Ambrogio.^ Upon my return to the inn I found that the 
worthy Braga's were in possession of a copy, which they 
are accustomed to allow visitors to examine, though it is 
too heavy and valuable to be carried about. — By 5 o'clock 
I was on my way back to the railroad; and as we neared 
the brow of the long ascent from the vale, my last look 
at the secluded village, tucked away down there for so many 
centuries, between its castle-hill at one end and its collegiate- 
hill at the other, was not unaccompanied by emotion: for it 
had this day shown me beauties that I should never again 
find elsewhere, — the inspired beginnings of our modern 
painting. 

I stayed at Varese for awhile longer, enjoying the de- 
lightful drives and walks about the rolling countryside, with 
its ever pleasing prospects of the lakes and mountains, and 
its countless charming villas, ideally situated ; a visit to some 
of these is well worth while, — such as the Villa Ponti, 
and the Litta Modignani, with its relics of Garibaldi's battle, 
which there took place. A large part of the district can 
also be covered by trips in the electric cars, including the 
interesting northern shore of Lake Varese, with its many 

s Published by Calzolari and Ferrario, 6 Via Benvenuto Cellini, 
Milan. 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 171 

prosperous little towns. — But at last, one morning, I bade 
adieu to the uplands, and took my seat in an early train, at 
the other station than the one where I had arrived, — bound 
for the city of Busto Arsizio. This I knew to be a very 
modernised manufacturing town; but It contains one im- 
portant survival of the Renaissance, — a church from Bra- 
mante's own designs, which Is decorated with paintings by 
Lulnl, Lanlnl, and Gaudenzio Ferrari; those of the latter 
artist being of especial merit. 

This railway line I found to be run by electric power; 
the handsome new coaches were built In the American style, 
with a single long, open compartment to each car, having 
seats facing forward, divided by the aisle; the locomotives 
were massive double-headed motors, taking their energy 
from a third rail, and capable of great speed. The power, I 
was Informed, comes from the large falls of the Ticino 
canal at Vizzola, just west of Busto Arsizio, where Is lo- 
cated the greatest electric generating plant in Europe; a 
good part of the water of the Ticino — here the boundary 
of Lombardy — Is conducted by this canal nearly 5 miles 
from the river, to plunge into the artificial turbine-pits; and 
the resulting energy Is transmitted far and wide over the 
plain, furnishing a dozen different towns. Including Busto, 
Legnano and Saronno, with the power for their lights, tram- 
ways and manufacturing plants, as well as running the rail- 
ways of the district. 

The train bore me a little west of south, diverging from the 
Olona River, at a rapidity remarkable for Italy. The swell- 
ing uplands were soon left behind, and the great plain 
stretched once more around me, In all Its closeness of culti- 
vation. At Gallarate we joined with the branch lines leading 
to the foot and middle of Lago Maggiore; then turned to 
the southeast, reaching Busto In some ten minutes more. 



172 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

This little city of 20,000 people lies about three miles west 
of the Olona River, and nearly 25 miles from Milan; It 
was a smaller place In mediaeval times, — never of any ac- 
count In history, though Included in the possessions of the 
lords of Milan, — and has been recently built up through 
Its manufacturing. When I emerged from the station, at 
the southeastern side of the town, I noticed at once an air 
of Intense business In Its streets, a thronging and a bustle, 
quite Indicative of Its commercial spirit. The long main 
thoroughfare, leading northwest, — a section of the ancient 
highway from Milan to the foot of Lago Magglore — was 
lined by modern, uninteresting, stuccoed buildings of good 
size, with shops fairly up to date. 

Following this avenue — of old the Via Mllano, but now 
rechrlstened after the everlasting VentI Settembre, — and 
traversing the Piazza Garibaldi, surrounded by cafes, I 
reached the second Piazza, of S. Giovanni, having the church 
of that name upon the right side, facing north. It was a 
large stuccoed edifice of the rococo period, with a lofty, 
handsome, red-brick campanile beside the right transept, and 
a curious frescoed shrine upon the outside of the right wall 
of the nave, adjacent to the sidewalk of the street. Through 
Its barred opening I saw a crowned, gilt Madonna upon an 
altar, other gilded statues In niches, painted putti frolicking 
over the wall-spaces, and a recess upon the right piled hor- 
ribly with human skulls and hones, around a crucifix. The 
utter decadence of Its period was further demonstrated by 
the fading frescoes on its outer wall, about the opening; 
they represented sporting skeletons, crowned with laurel, 
embracing voluptuous females, and above these, several of 
the old Greek goddesses. This was Indeed extraordinary 
decoration for a Christian edifice, — ■ the most extreme ex- 
ample I had ever found of the debased neo-classic manner. 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 173 

Adjacent, in the open, stood an awful baroque statue to 
the " Beat^e Julianae," dated 1782, — a white sandstone fe- 
male of sickening pose and expression, upon a red granite 
pedestal. She was rivalled in ugliness by the fagade of the 
church, which was an unformed mess of vilest rococo orna- 
mentation — save the word, — including a lot of dwarf- 
obelisks tipped with balls, and grotesque statues with whirl- 
ing garments. Its central bronze doors were quite unusual, 
showing scenes from the Baptist's life in an exceedingly im- 
pressionistic manner. But this predecessor of Rodin had not 
achieved great success. The spacious, finely proportioned 
interior of the edifice, of good renaissance design spoiled by 
gaudy decoration, proved to be noteworthy only for its curi- 
ous plaster reliefs, painted in imitation of polished bronze, 
posted around the walls, and a weird ancona in the right 
transept that might be called the apex of these baroque 
horrors; it was an enormous plaster construction represent- 
ing an oval of coloured clouds and /»w//i-heads, enclosing a 
figure of Christ upon another cloud, draped in an intensely 
vivid scarlet robe. Words could not do it injustice. 

But one block farther north, however, appeared the edi- 
fice designed by Bramante, whose purity and simple grace 
seemed most delightful after this rococo barbarism. It was 
the church of S. Maria, standing upon the right side of the 
piazza of the same name, with its northern fagade faced upon 
a narrow street issuing easterly: a cube-shaped building, of 
cream-coloured stucco, capped by an octagonal drum of nearly 
equal breadth; the latter part was ornamented with a hand- 
some gallery, of four round arches per side, resting upon 
slender doric columns connected by a balustrade ; and the flat, 
tinned dome was surmounted by an octagonal, columned 
lantern of two stages. The two fagades were identically 
simple, each being pierced by a single doorway of marble, 



174 ' LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

with a plain circular window above it, and two at the sides; 
these portals were framed by pilasters, with caps made of 
distorted masks and horns of plenty, supporting a high en- 
tablature topped by limestone statues ; and their lunettes held 
decaying frescoes, of the Madonna with angels or putti. On 
the south rose the graceful, detached campanile, of stucco 
painted brown and grey, with a belfry of double arches, 
tipped by a square lantern. In all these quiet, harmonious 
lines I saw the unmistakable imprint of the great Umbrian. 

The beauties, as usual with Bramante, lay mostly in the 
interior, for whose effect everything was planned; this nave 
was not only imposing in its proportions, and charming in all 
its parts, it was also finely decorated ; — a structure delight- 
ful to the eye, and increasing in effectiveness the more it was 
studied. Square in shape upon the ground, it became octag- 
onal through projecting quarter-domes at the upper corners, 
so that eight huge ornamental arches ran around the walls; 
the rear one enclosed the high-altar recess, of moderate 
depth; they all rested upon tall pilasters with ornate faces, 
painted with arabesques and putti on golden ground. In 
their eight spandrels were frescoed medallions containing 
busts; on the four quarter-domes at the angles were four 
larger frescoes, three of them modern, the fourth a splendid 
work of Gaudenzio Ferrari. 

It contained seven of his lovely angels, — five playing in- 
struments of music, and two, above the others, singing from 
a long scroll ; all were united in that abandon of joyous mel- 
ody, and distinguished by that full beauty of form, feature 
and pose, that harmony of graceful gestures and rhythm of 
movement, that gaiety of colouring — now, alas, greatly 
faded — and that expression of rapt, heavenly happiness, 
which are so striking and characteristic of the master's 
genius. This painting was unfortunately in a sad condi- 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 175 

tlon. The other three contained similar groups of playing 
and singing angels, likewise disposed and gaily tinted; but 
what a difEerence, — in their lack of harmony of colours and 
action, and their doll-like faces devoid of meaning. 

Over the great arches, all the way around, ran an arcade 
of niches framed with pilasters and mouldings, holding 32 
lifesize statues of saints, in grey jplaster; thence sprang the 
curve of the dome, in each of whose eight divisions there was 
a circular window, with a couple of painted female figures 
beside it, of heroic size. These were the saints and sibyls 
executed by Luini; and he did not seem to have taken any 
special pains with them, — probably on account of their 
height from the floor — having evidently confined himself 
to a decorative purpose only. In such a work, too, his pu- 
pils doubtless did a large part of the colouring. It is deco- 
rative, and the figures are fairly lifelike, but that is all I can 
say of them in their present state. 

The other important paintings I found in the little choir. 
Upon the insides of its front piers, facing each other, were 
firstly the two figures of the Virgin and the announcing 
angel, by Ferrari's pupil, Lanini, — rather insipid and ex- 
pressionless. Next, upon the left wall, was a large fresco of 
the Magi by the same hand, not well ordered but of natural, 
vigorous, lifesize characters, significant and graceful; his 
principal charm, the brilliant colouring, had much faded. 
Upon the opposite wall, at the sides of a window, were an 
angel playing a violin and a Nativity, also by Lanini; the 
latter showing the same serious fault of poor composition, — 
being, in fact, an aggregation of crowded heads; at any rate, 
it was practically ruined. But novi^ I had reached a genuine 
treasure, the foremost of the city, — its celebrated ancona by 
Ferrari himself, which he painted in 1539. 

This was a large canvas over the high-altar, in a splendidly 



176 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

carved gilt frame of six compartments. The principal 
tableau was an Assumption : above the throng of apostles and 
friends, gazing as usual with awestruck faces and uplifted 
arms, soared the lovely, rounded form of the Madonna, 
borne upon a cloud and accompanied by a flock of winged 
cherubs;, her face, beautiful though not very refined, was 
upturned with a proper expression of rapture ; like the disci- 
ples below, she was clad in a simple, unadorned robe, — here 
of a reddish hue. In this last respect Ferrari showed his 
common sense. He used to " object to the Madonna and 
the Apostles being painted in gorgeous robes, — ' which,' as 
he truly said, * they never wore.' " ^ The picture was per- 
fectly preserved, except for the inevitable slight fading of 
his bright tints. The male figures were virile, strongly 
modelled and individualised, with speaking faces. To left 
of this, below, stood the Baptist holding a lamb; to right of 
it, St. Michael, with his arm uplifted to strike a demon upon 
the ground, — a superb form, of exquisite shapeliness and 
poise, and truly celestial beauty. Above these last were two 
smaller, three-quarter figures of saints, and at the top of the 
frame, a majestic, imposing, brooding figure of the Eternal 
Father, looking down with outstretched hands. Though 
Ferrari was 68 years of age when he executed this piece, and 
had generally retrograded in his work toward the close of 
his life, I could not see in it any marked deterioration; it 
was not equal to his greatest productions, but nevertheless 
was full of his old charm of form and colour; and the St. 
Michael could hardly be surpassed by any hand. 

Still another treat awaited me, at the back of the altar, 
— the predelle of the ancona, also executed by Ferrari, upon 
wood. They were four delightful little scenes, very prettily 
tinted: the Birth of the Virgin, her Presentation, her Wed- 

^ Ethel Halsey's " Gaudenzio Ferrari." 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 177 

ding, and a view of her with the youthful Christ In the car- 
pentry-shop. All these were happily set In natural, home 
backgrounds, the figures realistic but very pleasing, and 
effectively grouped to tell the tale. The Wedding was full 
of people, but the contracting parties were simply earnest, and 
impressive. Most pleasing of all was the scene of the dusky 
work-room at eventide, with St. Joseph absorbed in planing 
at his bench, the Madonna seated opposite, and the boy Christ 
standing by, watching him, — plainly dressed, unmoving, yet 
lustrous In His beauty of youth and spirituality. 

Returning down the main street, I had lunch at one of 
the numerous restaurants, thronged with business men, and 
by two o'clock was again aboard train, whirling southeast. 
The frequency of these fast, new trains, and their invariable 
crowding, with well-dressed, intelligent people, were charac- 
teristic of this swiftly developing, commercial Milanese; but 
ah, — how utterly dliferent from the dreamy mediaevalism of 
other districts of Italy. Yet I was now advancing upon 
some of the most historic ground of the Middle Age, — 
ground, in fact, more sacred than any other to the Italian 
patriot. For at Legnano was fought that ever memorable 
battle which destroyed at last the power and pretensions of 
Frederick Barbarossa, and brought to the Lombard cities 
their long-desired freedom. If Pontida, where the league of 
the cities was first ratified by their consuls, can properly be 
called the conception of Italian freedom, Legnano is rightly 
named its birthplace; and in terrible travail was It born, on 
that day of May 29, 11 76, when the Lombards of every 
region poured out their blood like water. 

Fourteen years previously, In 1162, the relentless Emperor 
had taken and destroyed Milan, had razed to the ground 
that splendid capital with all Its palatial relics of Roman 
days, and scattered Its 300,000 inhabitants over the plain. 



178 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

This deed was followed by a general sway over the plain- 
towns so rigorous and exacting, so forceful and tyrannical, 
that at the end of five ignominious years, without one dis- 
senting voice, they united themselves at Pontida to resist the 
foreigner unto death. Three hundred of their leading young 
nobles, from a dozen cities, also joined themselves by holy rite 
into the famous " Company of Death," pledged by the most 
solemn oaths not to lay down the sword, nor hesitate at any 
risk, till they had purchased freedom even with their lives. 
No further evidence is needed, of the lasting impression made 
upon the Italian people by this occurrence, — when for the 
first time since the fall of the Roman Empire they united 
together for self-protection — than the fact that one still 
finds everywhere in Italian households representations upon 
their walls. In oil, chromo, engraving, or wood-cut, of the 
" duramen to di Pontida." 

That same year the new allies rebuilt Milan. The Em- 
peror took up the challenge, and a long, varying struggle en- 
sued, during which the cities held together with remarkable 
firmness. At last Frederick determined to end it with an- 
other great blow, and in the Spring of 1176 gathered his 
heaviest forces at Como; the undaunted Lombards prepared 
their army of fellow-citizens at Milan. Foremost in their 
preparations was the new Carroccio,'^ or battle-car, which 
according to mediaeval custom was to advance in the front 
ranks against the enemy, representing all that they fought 
for ; It was their standard, their leader, their inspiration, their 

^ This curious mediaeval Institution was first devised by Arlberto, 
Archbishop of Milan, about 1040; and "was soon adopted by cities 
throughout Italy. It gave cohesion and confidence to the citizens, 
reminded them that the church was on their side in the struggle 
for freedom, and served as a symbol of their military strength in 
union." J. A. Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 179 

ark of the covenant, by which they would stand or fall. 
" This car was escorted by a picked company of horsemen, 
nine hundred strong, and defended by three hundred young 
nobles, — the Company of Death, its members being sworn 
rather to die than lose their precious charge. The car itself 
was drawn by six milk-white oxen in scarlet harness. In 
its centre a huge crucifix surmounted a globe, above which, 
from a mast, floated the banner of the Milanese Republic. 
It contained an altar on which masses were said, and appli- 
ances for tending the wounded." ^ 

Barbarossa, leaving his Empress at the castle of Baradello 
near Como, moved southward with his host, and the brave 
burghers advanced to meet him. At Legnano the clash oc- 
curred. It was the old, old conflict between mercenaries 
bent on conquest and citizens fighting for all they held dear; 
and the patriots entered upon it with feelings of sacred devo- 
tion, after inspiring ceremonies by the priests. " As the 
Carroccio moved forward towards the Imperial army, its 
escort kneeled down in prayer." ^ The ensuing struggle was 
frightful; for miles over the plain men died by the thou- 
sands, but especially around the devoted Carroccio did the 
carnage flourish. The Emperor was determined to seize it, 
realising that that would give him victory; for hours he 
launched against it his best battalions, — but its defenders 
fought until they fell, and their places were instantly filled, 
again and again. The Company of Death earned its name, 
going down to immortal glory. When the day ended Bar- 
barossa's host was broken and dispersed, shattered beyond 
mending, and he himself was wounded and a fugitive. His 
very shield was in the Lombards' hands, and for three days 
they believed him dead, unrecognised amongst the countless 

8 Richard Bagot's "The Lakes of Northern Italy." 
9 Oscar Browning's " Guelfs and Ghibellines," 



i8o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

corpses. Meanwhile he was creeping from one hiding-place 
to another, avoiding the parties pursuing his crumbled army, 
and at the end of the third day " appeared unattended before 
the fortress of Baradello, where the Empress was already 
mourning for him as dead on the field of battle." 

" Frederick realised the situation : he had been beaten ; he 
was therefore ready to make peace on the cities* terms. He 
met Alexander III (the Pope) at St. Mark's at Venice 
(1177), fell at his feet, confessed his wrong deeds and 
begged the Pope to remove the ban from him. The Pope 
yielded, and a truce was declared. Six years later, at Con- 
stance, the treaty of peace was signed which granted the 
cities substantially all they had demanded." ^^ Four hundred 
years later, in 1876, the quartercentenary of the birth of 
Italian freedom was celebrated at Legnano with great re- 
joicings, by a country at last independent and united, from 
ocean to ocean. And 24 years after that, following the wish 
of the people, the national government erected upon the 
battleground the now famous memorial, from the chisel of 
the talented sculptor, Butti. 

As for Legnano itself, it was until recent times a little, 
unimportant place, overshadowed by the adjacent metropolis; 
and resembles Busto also in having a single interesting relic 
of the Renaissance era, — a church from Bramante's design, 
almost identical with Busto's, which Is furthermore decorated 
by Luini and Lanlni. Lulni's altar-piece (1524) is ranked 
amongst the few greatest works of Lombardy. Like Busto, 
again, Legnano has increased her wealth and size through 
modern manufacturing, until she too can boast of nearly 
20,000 inhabitants; she is perhaps even more typical of the 
bustling, rebuilt factory-town. It is the silk-trade, chiefly, 
that has made these cities of the Milanese flourish. The 

^a Oscar Browning's " Guelfs and Ghibellines," 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY i8i 

production of raw silk has grown steadily all over the plain, 
from that fortunate day when it was introduced by the 
mediaeval despots (the one great benefit which they rendered 
their country), until Italy's annual crop now reaches well 
over a third of that of the whole world. But it is above all 
the staple of northern Lombardy. " Till lately the great 
bulk of silk thread was sent abroad to be woven. But in 
the last twenty years the old hand-looms and their beautiful 
brocades have disappeared, and great textile mills with over 
7,000 power-looms have sprung up in the provinces of Como 
and Milan." 10 

These are the wealth-producing factories with which the 
towns of the region are filled, increasing in number month 
by month. The railway trains, the steamers on the lakes, 
and the barges on the canals, pass before one's eyes laden 
always with the bags of raw silk from the farms or the boxes 
of woven goods from the mills. " The exports of silk have 
risen from £13,250,000 in 1897 to nearly £21,000,000 in 
1899," and the rise has ever since continued. It is not for 
nothing that one sees the Milanese covered with a blanket 
of mulberry trees, wheresoever he looks. 

Ten minutes only after my departure from Busto, — dur- 
ing which we had traversed 3% miles — and I was again de- 
scending at a crowded, busy station. Pushing my way out, 
after depositing my luggage, I found the main street of 
Legnano running straightaway to the east; and following 
this I came shortly to a sunny, oval piazza, surrounded by 
stuccoed dwellings with walled gardens and trees, including 
one stately renaissance palace. But I had no eyes for aught 
except the oval's centre, where loomed a great monument re- 
quiring instant recognition; too many a time had I seen re- 
produced that giant mailed figure of a 12th century warrior 

10 King and Okey's "Italy To-day." 



1 82 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

— dear to every patriotic heart — not to know it as the na- 
tional memorial. There he stood against the blue sky, far 
aloft upon a mighty block of granite, — this majestic cham- 
pion of human freedom, this representative of the citizen- 
soldier as against the robber-knight, of the Italian burgher 
roused to defend his land. He was clad cap-a-pie in the 
chain-armour of his time, an unvisored morion upon his head, 
his left arm holding a long, triangular shield; his legs were 
spread as if he posed upon a mountain-peak, the left one sus- 
taining his weight, the right foot considerably higher, ad- 
vanced upon a rock; in the right hand he grasped his sword, 
stretching it out and upward to the full length of the arm, 
which together with the blade, formed one straight line ; the 
stalwart shoulders were squared, the martial head thrown 
back, and from the open lips of the resolute, fierce counte- 
nance there seemed to be proceeding a roar of defiance to his 
country's enemies, — a mighty oath upon the extended 
weapon, that never should it be sheathed till Italy was free. 
A most remarkable, impressive figure, — so lifelike, so pow- 
erful, so thrilling with turbulent emotion, that the observer's 
heart beats more swiftly with the reflex of its fiery patriotism 
and the sense of those terrible days. It is indeed a chef 
d'oeuvre, of the new, unconventional sculpture; and its dar- 
ing novelty is augmented by the setting, — for its left side 
is toward the front of the monument, which gives the most 
effective view of its embattled posture. Approaching closer 
to this front, I examined the relief upon the polished grey 
granite: there was the Carroccio, drawn by its six white 
oxen, escorted by foot-soldiers, preceded by a mounted knight 
who gazed anxiously ahead; the wide car itself being laden 
witli a throng of priests, who were engaged in ceremonies 
about its tall wooden crucifix. It was a fine, realistic piece 
of carving, in spite of the impressionistic manner. And it 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 183 

carried my thoughts to the foregoing evening at Varese, 
where by a strange fortune I had chanced to witness a cine- 
matograph-film showing this same Carroccio in the midst of 
battle. I saw its devoted defenders struggling with the 
hordes of savage assailants, men falling like leaves, and fresh 
fighters ever taking their places, — wild, fierce figures in 
their uncouth chain-armour, long shields and flashing swords ; 
while through it all, quite undisturbed, the bishop and his 
surpliced attendants continued their sacred rites upon the 
platform, praying, swinging incense, sprinkling holy water 
and blessings upon the battling, dying Lombards below. It 
was the popular Italian piece entitled " Legnano " ; and 
toward the conclusion of the vivid battle scenes disclosed the 
wounded, Beaten Emperor fleeing alone from his triumphant 
foes. 

Upon the rear side of the base appeared the inscription: 
at the sides, in two even rows, the names of the 24 cities 
that constituted the Lombard League, and between them the 
following: "Dove — il 29 Maggio 11 76 — la lega di 
poche citta — rivendico — contra la maesta dell' impero — 
la liberta del commune — I'ltalia — a perenne ricordanza' — 
eresse — il 29 Giugno, 1900."^^ 

Farther down the street, upon the left, I passed a long, 
high factory-building, of excellent style and cleanliness, occu- 
pying with its grounds a full square block. Either it was 
one of the latest, model silk-mills, which are renowned for 
the comfort of their employes, or else it was the famous 
electrical-machinery works of Legnano, which were founded 
by the late Signore Tosi, and are known to send their prod- 

11 "Where, on May 29, 1176, the League of a few cities revenged 
upon the majesty of the Empire the liberty of the Commune, here 
Italy, on June 29, 1900, erected (this monument) in perennial re- 
membrance." 



1 84 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ucts all over Europe. Especially remarkable was the pleas- 
ing absence of smoke and soot, not only from the factory, 
but from all the buildings and the air of the city ; such is the 
happy result of using electric power, — which comes to these 
towns, not merely from Vizzola, but also from the vast 
Edison Company at Podermo on the Adda. It is the fall of 
the latter river that runs the great tramway and lighting 
systems of Milan. So is Italy being at last freed by her 
rivers from the long poverty and misery entailed by her lack 
of coal, — and freed in a manner that will leave her glorious 
cities — thank Heaven — without the destroying curse of the 
smoke-pall. Italy is now fast becoming an industrial nation, 
whose sons, with their proverbial quickness of intelligence 
and their dexterity, have in one generation made themselves 
artisans of the highest quality, independent of foreign guid- 
ance. They are forming a new, educated, self-respecting 
class in the commonwealth. 

Taking the first turn to the south, beyond, which brought 
me quicMy to a small piazza, and again turning to the right 
from this, I reached finally the spacious old central piazza, 
renamed after Umberto I. It was a very wide, cobble- 
paved, treeless space, surrounded by two- and three-storied 
stucco buildings, more or less modern, and quite plain in 
appearance. At the southern end lingered one quaint, older 
edifice, of gothic times, painted red to simulate brick, having 
a pointed central archway leading to the courtyard, over 
which hung a fine stone balcony with gothic doors ; beside the 
pointed windows of the second storey were painted medal- 
lions in grisaille, containing busts and coats of arms. But 
naught now remained of those noble tenants of long ago; 
business usurped their seat; and, passing through the ancient 
doors, whose great iron knockers still survived, I found a 
Stable for horses occupying the picturesque, unaltered court, 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 185 

with its singular outer stairway of mediaeval, ladder-like 
design. 

At the piazza's far eastern end I saw the object of my 
search, — the large red-brick church of S. Magno, with its 
lofty drum and baroque campanile. Its fagade, with lean-to 
aisles, was noticeable only for the central portal, of classic 
form. Adjacent on its left appeared the new, unfinished 
Municipio, upon an intervening side street, built of red brick 
and light grey stone in a sort of debased gothic style. Cross- 
ing the sunny square and entering the church, I stood under 
a domed cube practically identical with S. Maria at Busto, 
evidently constructed from the same designs of Bramante; 
the only difference being that the niches around the octagonal 
drum were three per side, containing no statues, with no 
paintings above them, nor in the quarter-domes of the angles, 
and that here there were lateral projections of all the eight 
large surrounding archways, — into an entrance passage, 
choir, and side-chapels ; there being two of the latter in each 
corner. The lofty dome was a horrible, decadent display of 
grey grotesques on blue ground. 

Lanini's frescoes appeared upon all sides, more or less 
damaged and of varied worth. In the entrance passage there 
remained the lifesize figures of the Madonna, a saint, and 
another Madonna between two saints, — the latter quite 
fair, seated simply with the Christ-child on her knee; other 
pictures had vanished away. In the first chapel to left re- 
mained an interesting group of the Madonna between four 
standing saints, — two bishops and two women — fairly well 
preserved and graceful; St. Jerome and another adorned its 
entrance-pillars, and upon its right wall was a large, badly 
retouched Adoration. The chief attraction in all these was 
Lanini's bright, tender hues, which he took from his master, 
Ferrari, 



1 86 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Advancing to the choir, I found Its walls also covered by 
his w^orks, which were the best I had yet seen; in fact, they 
were surprisingly good, in spots, — for Lanini was always va- 
riable. The entrance-piers bore heroic figures of S. Magno, 
and Christ carrying the Cross; on the left wall, above, were 
the Visitation and the Marriage of the Virgin, and below, 
the Adoration and the Coming of the Magi. In the last 
two the Madonna was a most lovely, charming personage, 
of alluring form and pose, and devoted expression; and the 
other figures were almost equally attractive, especially in the 
Adoration. There the Virgin knelt above her Babe in rap- 
ture, while St. Joseph, the three shepherds, and two angels 
playing upon instruments, all bent tenderly forward with 
gentle, loving regard, — making a really delightful scene. 
On the right wall, above, there glowed in his usual lively 
tints the master's second-best picture, a Circumcision, flanked 
by a Massacre of the Innocents; below were the Disputa 
and the Journey into Egypt, — the former a strong, effective 
tableau, with a beautiful boy Christ. On the rear wall, 
beside Luini's great pala^ were the large figures of Sts. Roch 
and Sebastian, each with an angel hovering above him In the 
sky; and six more heroic saints, mostly vanished, occupied 
the lunettes beside the three circular windows. 

There were some rather Interesting, early choir-stalls here, 
black with age, embellished with pleasing putti In the place 
of columns, — a happy idea. But above and beyond all else 
glowed Luini's magnificent altar-piece, Illumining the whole 
church with the glory of Its wondrous forms and opulent 
hues. In truth it is one of the most beautiful works con- 
ceivable. Words can give no idea of Its deeply golden tone, 
Its idyllic atmosphere, its incredible loveliness of figure and 
face, its deliciously moulded and tinted fleshwork, Its har- 
monious expression of celestial joy. The Madonna sits en- 



THE TOWNS OF THE OLONA VALLEY 187 

throned, with the Child on her left knee, clad in a rose- 
coloured bodice and green gown, looking down with her ex- 
quisitely tender and loving face at the very real and pleasing 
infant; beside her appear four saints, of three-quarter figure, 
proportioned and modelled to the life; overhead flutter three 
little winged cherubs, with the sublime form of the Eternal 
Father at the top; at her foot sit three little angels playing 
flutes, of the most refined, ethereal loveliness ; and two more, 
somewhat larger, are playing upon mandolins at the sides. 
The central group of the Madonna, Child and three small 
angels, is certainly one of the sweetest, most enchanting con- 
ceptions of all Art; and perfectly executed, — they actually 
breathe and make melody before one's eyes. The shading 
throughout is most effective, the colouring a superb scheme 
of harmonious, gentle shades. The faces one and all reflect 
a beauty and a sense of bliss that could come only from 
Paradise. 

The predelle of this masterpiece are strangely unworthy 
of It, being simply in dark-brown monotone, — nine small 
panels, representing the Saviour, the four Evangelists, and 
scenes from the Passion. But as to the great canvas itself, 
so perfectly preserved, — no one who loves Italian painting 
should miss it; and if Luini had never done another work, 
it would still rank him among those immortals that Andrea 
del Sarto dreamed of, as entitled to paint the walls of 
Heaven. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 

"But let my due feet never fall 
To walk the studious cloister's pale 
And love the high-embowed roof, 
With antique pillars mossy proof, 
And storied windows richly dight 
Casting a dim religious light." 



Milton. 



" In the midst of that plain — stands one of the most in- 
teresting and most magnificent of Italian churches and mon- 
asteries. — This temple — so vast in extent, so minute in de- 
tail, so ponderous and so brilliant, stands apart from the 
road, and at the extremity of a venerable avenue, deeply se- 
cluded within the once sacred precincts of its ancient walls. — 
Although commenced in the 14th century, the artists of Italy 
were still working at it in the i8th; yet the labour of 4(X) 
years scarcely accounts for the immensity of its details, its 
sculptures, its carvings, its statuary, its works in gold, bronze, 
ivory and ebony, its accumulations of precious stones, of mo- 
saics, of pictures, frescoes, and all the wonders of wealth and 
art, which go to perfecting its chapels, its choirs, and Its 
sacristies, its altars, monuments, and mausoleums." ^ 

" Those who have only once been driven round with the 
crew of sight-seers, can carry little away but the memory 
of lapis lazuli and bronze-work, inlaid agates and laby- 
rinthine sculpture, cloisters tenantless in silence, fair, painted 
faces smiling from dark corners on the senseless crowd, trim 

^Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. L 

188 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 189 

gardens with rows of pink primroses in Spring, and of begonia 
in Autumn, blooming beneath colonnades of glowing terra- 
cotta. — Thoughts of the two great houses, Visconti and 
Sforza, to whose pride of power it is a monument, may be 
blended with the recollection of art-treasures alien to their 
spirit. — The Certosa is a wilderness of lovely workman- 
ship." ^ — " High in the midst of its silent, solitary, and 
overpowering magnificence, rises the mausoleum of its mur- 
derous founder, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. This superb 
monument was raised by the monks to the memory of their 
benefactor, a century after his death ; to give a hint, perhaps, 
to his successors, the Sforzas, to go and do likewise." ^ 

" In Gian Galeazzo that passion for the colossal which was 
common to most of the despots shows itself on the largest 
scale. — He founded that most wonderful of all convents, 
the Certosa of Pavia." * Some authorities say that it was 
in consequence of a vow made by his wife, Catharine, when 
she was threatened by a great danger ; others, that the tyrant 
was prompted by the desire to make a splendid guilt-offering 
to appease Heaven in regard to the crime by which he had 
obtained his sovereignty. For he had, as already related, 
mounted to power by seizing the persons of his uncle Ber- 
nabo and the latter's sons, and imprisoning them in the 
Castle of Trezzo; and there he had eventually killed them 
by poison. That the latter was one of the causes for the 
great building is probably true, at any rate; for it was the 
usual practice of the mediaeval despots, especially the most 
bloody, thus to endeavour to buy Heaven's forgiveness of 
their crimes, under the crafty tuition of the priests. It is 
also certain that Gian Galeazzo was inspired by his passion 

2 J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 

3 Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. I. 

* Burckhardt's "Renaissance in Italy." 



190 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

for majestic building, conjointly with the desire to leave an 
unsurpassable sepulchral monument for himself and his royal 
line. 

So the convent vras founded, on Sept. 8, 1396, in the 
open plain 17 miles south of Milan, w^ithin five miles of 
Pavia; a grant of vt^ide-spread estates was made for its en- 
dowment, and the greatest artists of the period engaged to 
work upon it. " The church and monastery rose with in- 
credible speed, and in unrivalled splendour ; and in three years 
it was sufficiently advanced to receive the prior and 24 monks 
of the order of the Chartreuse. The immense estates 
granted by its founder rendered it one of the richest con- 
vents in Italy; and a codicil to his will, intimating that the 
monks should lay by a sum annually for its decoration and 
improvement, added to its beauty and richness. Successive 
donations still further increased the wealth of the house; 
the genius and talent of successive ages contributed to its 
ultimate perfection, and the cloisters of the Certosa became the 
studio of Luini, Giacomo della Porta, Procaccini, Sacchi, 
Guercino, and others of equal note and ability." ^ 

Yet the long, slow labour of completing so great an under- 
taking had comparatively languished during the wars of Gian 
Galeazzo's son, Filippo Maria, the troublous times of Fran- 
cesco Sforza, and the wasteful dissipations of his son Gale- 
azzo; and it remained for that splendid patron of the arts, 
Lodovico il Moro, to finish the Certosa upon a scale still 
more glorious, — as his one lasting achievement, and as a 
deathless memorial to his own talents and to his family. 

" This famous church and monastery had been the pride 
of successive Dukes of Milan, since the day when Galeazzo 
Visconti laid the first stone in his park of Pavia a hundred 
years before. Viscontis and Sforzas had alike helped to en- 

5 Lady Morgan's " Italy," Vol. I. 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 191 

rich their ancestor's mighty foundation, and to carry on the 
work. But the Certosa owes more to Lodovico Sforza than 
to any other member of the dynasty. — This great shrine 
was the special object of his solicitude. In his eyes, as he 
said, — the Certosa was the jewel of the Crown, the noblest 
monument in the whole realm. The completion of the 
fagade and the internal decoration of the great church and 
chapels, was one of the objects that lay nearest to his heart. 
A whole army of architects and sculptors, painters and build- 
ers, were employed under his orders; and so great was the 
store of precious marbles, brought from Carrara and other 
parts of Italy, that the place was said to resemble a vast 
stone quarry. During the 20 years that the Moro reigned 
as Regent and Duke of Milan, the new apse built in Bra- 
mante's classical style, the central cupola, and the beautiful 
cloisters with their slender marble shafts and dark-red terra- 
cotta friezes of angel-heads, all rose into being. Then Am- 
brogio Borgonone decorated the nave and apse. — But the 
crowning work of Lodovico's days was the fagade of the 
great church, which, after many different attempts, was 
finally begun in 1491, and mostly executed during the next 
seven years. 

" This magnificent creation, the triumph of Lombard 
genius, was designed by a native architect, Giovanni Antonio 
Amadeo. — In 1490 this gifted artist was appointed Capo 
maestro of the Certosa works. To his delicate fancy and ex- 
quisite refinement we owe much of the lovely detail in the 
church and cloisters." ^ " The Certosa of Pavia is the centre 
of a school of sculpture that has little in common with the 
Florentine tradition. Antonio Amadeo and Andrea Fusina, 
acting in concert with Ambrogio Borgognone the painter, 
gave it that character of rich and complex decorative beauty 

6 Julia Cartwright's "Beatrice d'Este." 



192 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

which many generations of artists were destined to con- 
tinue." ^ 

Lodovico must be granted full credit for his continued 
pains in engaging and keeping such aritsts, and his remarka- 
ble liberality in practically giving them carte blanche. In 
this spirit he completed the great work. And now the visitor 
sees, in the very centre of its transept, the wonderful tomb 
to Lodovico and his wife that was carved by Cristoforo 
Solari; it does not contain their bodies, but where else could 
it so appropriately lie as in the midst of the grand memorial. 

During the succeeding Spanish regime, with the main 
power in the hands of the priesthood, the monastery steadily 
flourished and increased in wealth, until it became by far the 
richest in the peninsula. " A gentleman still living at Milan 
told me " — says Lady Morgan — " he perfectly remembered 
the Procuratore of the Convent driving into Milan on busi- 
ness in a splendid coach and four. These wealthy professors 
of poverty had estates throughout all Lombardy. Their 
tenants and farmers used to come by hundreds to settle ac- 
counts at the convent; and the brotherhood were the most 
enlightened agriculturists of Italy, at the period of the disso- 
lution." s 

It was the Austrian rulers who, no longer able to endure 
the sight of such vast monastic riches, and perhaps inspired 
by covetousness, finally, in 1782, brought about that dissolu- 
tion. " One of the first acts of the reforming system of 
Joseph the Second, was the suppression of the Certosa of 
Pavia. The prior and monks were pensioned off. — Four 
priests were appointed to officiate in the church on Sundays 
and holidays; a sacristan was named to watch over and keep 
it in order. Except a few pictures removed by the Emperor 

7 J. A. Symonds' "Fine Arts." 
8 Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. I. 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 193 

to Vienna, and a few by the French, the church and convent 
remain, rich and picturesque, as in the days of their greatest 
prosperity." ^ Under the sway of United Italy the Certosa 
has become a most cherished national monument, guarded 
by governmental employes. 

It was the best fate that could happen to it, for Its own 
sake and the world's. Luigi Villari, himself an Italian, 
spoke plainly of these convents of the past generation: " A 
great deal of unnecessary sympathy has been expended, es- 
pecially abroad, over their suppression. The monastic es- 
tablishments have very much changed In character since they 
were founded. They are no longer seats of learning and 
study, or of really religious life. Their Inmates are, for the 
most part, men -and women of the crassest ignorance, who felt 
that they had not the courage to face the struggle for life. — 
Their chief secular occupations, when they have any, consist 
in tilling the soil around the monastery and making liquors. 
Some of the nuns embroider, and make sweets and patent 
medicines. Many orders (as at the Certosa) do not work 
at all." ^^ He further revealed how they have continued to 
exist, in avoidance of the law: "The regular clergy, In 
spite of the suppression of the monasteries, are still very 
numerous. These, as well as the convents, are found all 
over the country, and, although they do not own as much 
land as they did formerly, they are still rich. As legally 
they are not recognised, their property Is held In the name 
of one or two of the monks. The members of religious 
orders number about 40,000 (today, considerably more), 
or a little over one for every 1,000 Inhabitants." ^°^ 

9 Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. I. 

10 Luigi Villari's " Italian Life in Town and Country." 



194 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The famous ancient route from Milan to Pavia, upon 
which the Certosa was built, after a long desuetude due to 
the railroads, is once more followed by travellers, both in 
motor-car and electric tram; and it should be the course of 
any who have time to spare, and desire to travel with the 
thoughts and objects of the past. The railway of course is 
quicker ; but, starting from the grand central station, it curves 
around considerably to the east and runs behind the back of 
the Certosa's park ; compelling the voyageur to make the half- 
circuit of its sturdy walls, a distance of over a mile upon 
very bad roads, in order to reach the front and only entrance 
in the middle of the western side. Generally, in the warmer 
season, a carriage or an omnibus will be found at the sta- 
tion, to make the trip ; but this is not reliable,- and even after 
carrying a passenger to the Certosa's gate, the driver may be 
found missing when one is ready to return. The tramway, 
therefore, is far more trustworthy and pleasant. It follows 
the ancient highway, which the Romans first laid down to 
their grand city of Mediolanum twenty centuries ago, and 
over which there have poured, ever since, such countless, 
variegated hosts of travellers. If one could but have a mov- 
ing picture of those changing hordes, century by century, 
what a wonderful kaleidoscopic summary it would present, 
of the successive peoples and rulers of Lombardy. 

First the highroad between Rome and the northern me- 
tropolis, later the connecting link between Milan and the 
Lombard capital, Pavia, then in mediaeval times the avenue 
uniting those two centres of Visconti power — their commer- 
cial capital with their court and fortress, — and always the 
great thoroughfare of commerce between north and south, — 
there is certainly no stretch of highway in Europe that has 
borne more historic movement and seen more momentous 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 195 

changes. What extraordinary Images rise from the dead 
past before one, as he rides southward upon it, — what cav- 
alcades, processions, caravans, armies, barbaric hosts, — every 
one different, succeeding each other like shifting shadows! 

Once beyond the suburbs of the swelling metropolis, the 
road leads straightaway through the beautiful, luxuriant 
plain, whose very flatness yields broad views over the smil- 
ing fields, with their varied crops, their clumps of shade-trees, 
copses of wood, and endless acres of gentle mulberries; long 
rows of stately trees make the route itself into a shadowy 
avenue, and lines of them far away Indicate the cross-roads; 
while all the time, close at one side, runs a broad lane of 
water, laden with barges at frequent intervals. It Is '* that 
canal which, with its tributary irrigations, brings commerce 
and fertility to the gates of Milan and Pavla. This great 
work of inland navigation was first struck out under the 
republican government of Milan, in 11 79. — Under the 
domination of the Sforzas the works were continued; and It 
Is supposed that the canal from Milan to Pavla was then 
completed." ^^ Subsequently fallen into neglect and disuse, 
until quite choked up, under the wretched Spanish rule, It 
remained for Napoleon the Great to restore it, and pros- 
perity, to his Italian capital. 

Just halfway to Pavla Is reached the little ancient village 
of Binasco, upon the highway and canal, whose waters are 
overlooked by Its historic castle of the VIscontI, still in fair 
preservation. Around this building lingers the tragic mem- 
ory of the unfortunate Beatrice di Tenda, the wife of 
Fillppo Maria, last of his race. " Here she was Imprisoned 
by a husband who feigned jealousy In order to get rid of a 
wife of whom he was weary. Hence she was led to execu- 
tion, declaring her Innocence (which none, not even her hus- 

11 Lady Morgan's "Italy," Vol. I. 



196 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

band, doubted) to the last." The execution itself took place 
at Milan, in the public piazza. No other interest, and no 
special beauty, are attached to this lonely fortress, dismantled 
of its mediaeval furnishings. 

At the village of Torre di Mangano one turns aside from 
the highway and canal, to visit the Certosa, which lies a 
thousand yards or so on the east, at the end of a fine, tree- 
shaded avenue of approach. I well remember the emotion 
with which I walked up this, one beautiful May morning, 
thinking upon the countless great dead who had made this 
pilgrimage before me. At the end appeared the simple gate- 
way, in the long white wall stretching far away on each side, 
faced by a fosse of flowing muddy water; two high pillars 
crowned with crumbling statues guarded the outer end of a 
short bridge, behind which rose a sort of entrance-pavilion, 
arching the passage, — a single-storied, stucco building with 
wide eaves and an arcaded cornice, whose fagade still glowed 
softly with the bright vestments of graceful, winsome figures, 
once painted there by Bernardino Lulni. They consisted of 
two angels, four prophets, an Annunciation, and a portentous 
figure of God the Father, all nicely balanced and disposed 
amidst a flowering maze of gay arabesques; giving thus a 
happy Introduction to the wonder-world within. 

Traversing the passage, in which the ordeal of ticket- 
taking was performed, I emerged into a long, wide court- 
yard, surrounded by varied structures. On the right ex- 
tended an ugly baroque fagade, with hideous broken pilasters 
and window-frames, all In stucco Imitating brown stone, — 
the so-called Palazzo Ducale, built In the 17th century, 
where the prior was wont of old to entertain prominent vis- 
itors in a princely fashion. Upon the left stretched another 
long stuccoed building, quite plain, where the commoner 
class of pilgrims were lodged. And at the end, in tremen- 



' THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 197 

dous, overpowering majesty of beauty, soared the marvellous, 
incomparable facade of the Certosa church, — overwhelming 
the observer by the mere weight of its incredible richness, at 
the same time exalting him by its magnificence, and its many- 
colonnaded, sky-piercing dome. 

The capo di lavoro of the Lombard Renaissance, the life- 
work of Amadeo, the product of a hundred of the most skil- 
ful chisels, in the hundred most artistic years of history, the 
richest of all lovely creations ever carved by man, — there it 
stood before me, glowing in the sunlight in that inimitable, 
soft, creamy hue which age lends to Carrara marble, flash- 
ing, scintillating also, from a thousand surfaces of its infinite 
sculptures and reliefs. Infinite is the only word for that 
countless throng of statues, busts, columns, arcades, gables, 
spires, — that vast and complex lace-work of relievo — me- 
dallions, plaques, arabesques, panels of single figures, of 
groups, and of elaborate tableaux, designs of every subject 
and nature — which cover like a glistening veil the whole 
mighty structure, a world of fairy beings and flowers turned 
to precious stone. 

It was, thus, the supreme type of the earlier Renaissance 
method which obtained its effects mostly by surface-decora- 
tion, instead of by harmonies of line or graces of form ; how- 
ever opulent its beauties, they were almost purely those of the 
incrusted shell ; the fabric itself, in general shape, proportions, 
and openings, was not symmetrical nor especially attractive, 
— its lines were neither very elegant nor concentual. Sy- 
monds has written: " Strip a chapel of the 15th century of 
ornamental adjuncts and an uninteresting shell is left; what, 
for instance, would the fagades of the Certosa and the Cap- 
pella Colleoni be without their sculptured and inlaid mar- 
bles? The genius of the age found scope in subordinate 
details, and the most successful architect was a man who 



198 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

combined In himself a feeling for the capacities of the great- 
est number of associated arts. As the consequence of this 
profuse expenditure of loving care on every detail, the monu- 
ments of architecture belonging to the earlier Renaissance 
have a poetry that compensates for structural defects." ^^ 
It was the Cappella Colleoni upon v^hlch Amadeo had been 
working when he was called here by Lodovico Sforza; and, 
since he can truly be called the poet who sang In marble, the 
fagade of the Certosa must be admitted to be his supreme 
oratorio maestoso, — as the Cappella at Bergamo was his 
fantasia capricciosa.^^ 

The true design here Is that of a truncated pyramid, of 
two grand divisions: the lower consisting of a central door- 
way and four quadrangular windows, topped by an arcaded 
gallery; the upper consisting of a central circular window, 
with two double-arched, blind windows at the sides, and 
another arcaded gallery, as a sort of frieze to the heavy cor- 
nice. The two outer windows of the lower row are also 
blind. The heavy buttresses at the angles, draped In their 
profusion of statues, terminate In empty canopies with elab- 
orate spires, rising from the shoulders of the fagade. There 
is, therefore, an utter confusion of styles: Lombard roman- 
esque in the general form and the arcaded galleries, gothic 
in the rose-window, corner buttresses and pinnacles, renals- 

12 J. A. Symonds' "Fine Arts," Chap. II. 

13 Though the first designer of the Certosa in general was Ber- 
nardo da Venezia, in 1453 he was succeeded by Guiniforte Solari, 
under whom the fagade was commenced, and the nave and cloisters 
completed. In 1463 Cristoforo Mantegazza began to add his la- 
bours, and in 1473, with the aid of his brother Antonio, continued 
the erection of the fagade; to these goldsmith-sculptors is due much 
of its minute decoration. Amadeo, who finished the designs of the 
fagade, worked from 1466 onward; being succeeded in time by 
Benedetto Briosco. 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 199 

sance in all the other features, — intermingled without rhyme 
or reason. As Mr. Street has put it: " The west front is 
— of a kind of design which seems to have proceeded upon 
the principle of setting all established architectural styles 
and customs at defiance. This may be said of the whole 
church, which is a kind of mixture of Lombard romanesque 
features with some pointed, and no slight dash of the re- 
naissance spirit; altogether a most magnificent hybrid, but 
certainly a hybrid." ^* 

Yet, in spite of all the foregoing, so prodigious and so 
voluptuous is the wealth of decoration flung over the whole 
face like a veil, causing every part and every detail to glis- 
ten like a brooch of jewels, that the faults of design are quite 
obscured by its magnificence and the observer stands in won- 
der before its beauty. He loses himself in admiration at 
every separate exquisite item. The glow of the great mass 
of marble against the blue Italian sky, is itself a joy, that 
no northern clime could render. Each window is a separate 
poem in precious stone, sculped by the hand of Amadeo him- 
self. Those of the lower row have ornate rectangular 
frames, enclosing double arches supported by tall, extremely 
slender columns in the form of candelabra — one in the mid- 
dle and one against each jamb — that are of the most opulent 
carving imaginable : a succession of delicate vases, surrounded 
and borne by tiny figures^ draped in a vine-work of daintiest 
designs, — and every column quite different from all the 
others. Delicious arabesques run around the frame; elab- 
orate festoons constitute the frieze; upon the cornices are 
extraordinary, detached, open-work pediments, composed of 
griffins, dragons, sphynxes, birds, angels, etc., amidst in- 
tricate convolutions; and beside the frames are perpendicular 

14 Street's " Brick and Marble Architecture in the Middle Ages," 
Chap. IX. 



200 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

rows of square plaques, adorned separately with busts, shields 
and many varied devices. 

Underneath these windows, all along the base, extends one 
of the most enriching features, a series of rectangular panels 
of reliefs, four to five feet In height and three In width; 
some of them contain single figures of seated prophets, the 
majority represent scenes from the New Testament, — now 
much Injured, but still. In great part, exhibiting the peculiar 
charm of the work of the Mantegazza. They are filled with 
graceful, long-hosed youths of the later quattrocento mode. 
Still lower, along the plinth of the fagade, runs an unbroken 
row of relieved medallions, about a foot and a half In diam- 
eter, bearing the profile-heads of old Roman and other classic 
heroes. In excellent Imitation of ancient coins. The whole 
fagade is vertically divided into five compartments, by four 
buttresses hardly a third the stoutness of those at the angles, 
faced to the top with one llfesize statue above another. 

These separate the window-spaces; and in the central, 
widest compartment, stands the stately, classic portal, the 
work of Benedetto Briosco, consisting of a shallow archway 
some 35 feet In height, sustained by two pairs of large de- 
tached Corinthian columns, with a broad entablature; the 
frieze and spandrels carry the usual profusion of foliated de- 
signs; the lunette within, over the square-headed doorway, 
holds a throned Madonna of llfesize, between four kneeling 
saints; and the sofHt also Is embellished, with figures of the 
Saviour, the Madonna (really charming) and Sts. Peter, 
Andrew and John the Baptist On reaching this entrance, 
I further observed, to right and left upon the opposing walls, 
a wealth of relievo surpassing anything on the fagade, — 
magnificent in its multitude of figured pictures and delicate 
ornamentation, at the same time of a superior quality. Here 
were the four famous scenes by Agostini Busti, from the life 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 201 

of the Certosa's founder, — two on each side, one above the 
other — framed in a vine-work of surpassing realism, whose 
successive, interlacing ovals enclosed two parallel upright 
rows, at the sides, of the most delightful little tableaux from 
New Testament history. The latter were carved by 
Amadeo, and in his best style. 

All of these were in the finest manner of the late quattro- 
cento y and but little damaged; the large panels being not so 
well composed as the small scenes, yet very striking, and filled 
with youthful figures in high-Renaissance costume, of remark- 
able grace and beauty. To right, above, was Gian Galeazzo 
amidst his court, giving the first orders for the building of 
the Certosa, and below, his inspection of its completed model, 
at the laying of the corner-stone; to left, above, was shown 
the dedication of the church, and below, the imposing funeral 
cortege which transported the founder's body from Milan, 
in 1474. The numerous little tableaux were still better, 
in grouping, perspective, realism of form and disposition, and 
graceful, expressive action; they could have come only from 
such a genius as was Amadeo, and were genuine gems of 
sculpture. The vines enfolding them were also of unique 
beauty and skill, with their perfectly natural stalks, leaves 
and tendrils. 

Before entering I made the round of the church, finding 
the sides, though not marbled like the face, of splendid 
finish and attractiveness. From the left I examined the 
lofty brick nave, with its two descending steps from the 
ridge to the lower roofs of the aisle and side chapels, — the 
latter supported by outer buttresses at short intervals, capped 
by open-work renaissance spires; and along the red sides of 
nave and aisle, continuing around upon the transept, ran 
two handsome galleries of brick arches upon gleaming marble 
columns, crowned by rich terra-cotta and grey stone cor- 



202 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

nices ; — again the Lombard romanesque, but very decorative 
in its effect. The upper arcade was continued entirely 
around the transept, and the choir also; the lower one re- 
appeared only under the cornices of the triple apses that 
enclosed the ends of both choir and transept. Those 
ends were further adorned by gables tipped with triple 
pinnacles, — of open-work light-grey stone, like all the 
others, — and by windows framed in beautiful, spiral, 
brick mouldings. But the one great feature, which domin- 
ated from afar the whole vast mass of the building, giving 
it majesty, picturesqueness, and distinctive character, was 
the enormous central tower, rising about the hidden 
dome in tier after tier of receding colonnades of glistening 
white stone; there were four of these imposing stages, octag- 
onal in shape, the topmost becoming a lofty open belfry, 
within a balustrade, surmounted by a gilt ball and cross, 
which flash at sunset for many miles across the plain. 

What a contrast to all this pseudo-classic construction was 
it, when I entered at last, and found a sublime gothic 
cathedral towering above me, with mighty clustered columns 
and aspiring, pointed arches !^^ A-^ sense of majesty and 
beauty of form, of harmony of lines and uncluttered spa- 
ciousness, immediately took possession of me. Afar stretched 
the polished mosaic pavement like a waveless sea, from whose 
depths emerged at wide intervals only the stately gothic 
piers, permitting the unhindered gaze to roam freely down 
the dusky aisles, into the duskier side chapels, into the recess 
of the distant choir; but the latter was guarded to a third 
its height by a sculptured rood-loft of glistening marbles, 
statue-crowned, and the wide transept was partially ob- 

15 This pointed construction, as well as the gothic features of 
the facade, was of course the work of Bernardo da Venezia, before 
the Lombard Renaissance commenced. 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 203 

scured by a handsome bronze railing reaching from wall to 
wall at the end of the nave. The prevailing dimness, too, 
was counteracted by the glowing pinkish hue of the whole 
immense edifice, whose pillars, walls and arches were built 
of a hard stone of that colour; and the vaulting was still 
brighter, its groined bays glistening with prominent white 
ribs, its cells with painted designs, and golden stars on blue 
fields. The light that entered fell softly down from quatre- 
foil windows in diamond frames, set high in the walls of 
the lofty aisles, and from the splendid dome, with its octag- 
onal colonnaded drum of black and white arches, surmounted 
by a modern paradise of giant, frescoed figures. 

All this gothic construction was the primary work, of the 
earlier part of the quattrocento, following the original plans 
and orders of Gian Galeazzo, — who had adopted the same 
style for his Milan Cathedral. I saw the first changes to 
the renaissance manner in the entrances to the side chapels, 
whose low, round arches were set in frames that betrayed 
the classic revival. Over them extended a row of curious 
blind windows of double trefoil arches with painted backs. 
Within, these chapels opened freely into each other by con- 
necting archways, like a continuous gallery; they were shut 
off from the nave by high iron railings with closed gates. 

The entrance to this artistic wilderness was guarded by 
a governmental employe in uniform, who took the tickets; 
and others waited to act as guides to the visitors, who are 
not allowed to walk around alone. I was fortunate in 
securing a guide to myself, by offering a sufficient bonus; 
and we started out on the customary route, through the line 
of chapels on the left. Their rich decorations and altars, 
as I had expected, were Renaissance-work, and more than 
that, of the decadent Renaissance. The pala of the second 
chapel was a polyptich once executed by Perugino, in which 



204 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the figure of God the Father still remained of his work, but 
the other five divisions were now only copies, — their originals 
being familiar sights of the National Gallery at London. 
From here, then, came that beautiful St. Michael standing 
astride behind his rested shield, that other archangel with 
Tobias, and that lovely Madonna adoring the Child upon 
the white sack. To right and left above this pala were 
two pairs of saints, the Fathers of the Church, by Bor- 
gognone, — half-figures in a greyish tone ; and in the sixth 
chapel was his St. Ambrose between four other saints, — 
youthful figures, of that delightful, polished grace and charm 
which he so well knew how to portray. 

We passed through the fine bronze screen — a seicento 
work — into the left transept : and there, before me in the 
centre of its glistening pavement, lay the renowned tomb 
of Lodovico Sforza and his wife. I saw a low, rectangular 
block of creamy marble, only about two feet high, upon 
which lay the apparently real, sleeping forms of those famous 
personages, side by side, with folded hands, so vividly life- 
like in face, body and costume, that their bosoms seemed 
to move with respirations. He was clad in full armour, 
covered with a ducal surtout draped with marvellous vrai- 
semblance, his head bared, with evenly flowing hair reaching 
to the neck, his clear-cut, distinguished features marked 
with all their characteristics of high birth, power and intel- 
lectuality. Her pretty petite figure, considerably shorter 
than her lord's, was clothed in a long-trained gown, trimmed 
with wide-woven net, and draped with extraordinary real- 
ism, — her hair hidden by a coif, excepting its front curls 
and the two long locks descending upon her bosom; and her 
ingenue countenance, with its plump cheeks and slightly 
tipped nose, was clearly a faithful portrait, revealing with 
wondrous skill the duchess who was still a child, but who 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 205 

had suffered in a few years all the pains of a mother, all 
the heart-burnings of a forsaken wife. 

This, then, was the merry, vivacious, delightful Beatrice 
d'Este, the learned, romantic, typical woman of the Renais- 
sance, the friend of poets, the entertainer of princes, the 
lover of the beautiful, the correspondent of the erudite, the 
patron of artists, the collector of objets d'art, — this pathetic, 
weary little form sleeping like a child. Could it really be 
she, who was " the type of that new-found joy in life, that 
intoxicating rapture in the actual sense of existence, that 
was the heritage of her generation ? " As I gazed, I seemed 
to see again '' this bride of the summers, flinging herself 
with passionate delight into every amusement, singing gay 
songs with her courtiers, dancing and hunting through the 
livelong day, outstripping all her companions in the chase, 
and laughing in the face of danger. — Scholars and poets, 
painters and writers, gallant soldiers and accomplished cav- 
aliers, — we see them all at Beatrice's feet, striving how best 
they may gratify her fancies and win her smiles. — A year 
or two passes, and we see her, royally arrayed in brocade 
and jewels, standing up in the great council-hall of Venice, 
to plead her husband's cause before the Doge and Senate. 
Later on, we find her sharing her lord's counsels in court 
and camp, receiving king and emperor at Pavia or Vigevano, 
fascinating the susceptible heart of Charles VIII by her 
charms, and annoying Kaiser Maximilian by her wisdom 
and judgment in affairs of state." ^^ 

Yet in spite of all this, Lodovico's love seemed to weaken 
and grow cool, as is the way of princes, and he turned for 
fresh amusement to the charms of Lucrezia Crivelli ; — " a 
thing which caused Beatrice the most bitter anguish of mind, 
but could not alter her love for him." Only a few months 

16 Julia Cartwright's "Beatrice d'Este." 



2o6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

later, and she was dead, — died In giving birth to her third 
child, on Jany. 2, 1497. " Then suddenly the music and 
dancing, the feasting and travelling, cease, and the richly 
coloured and animated pageant Is brought to an abrupt 
close. Beatrice dies, without a moment's warning, in the 
flower of youth and beauty; and the young Duchess 
is borne to her grave in S. Maria delle Grazle amid the 
tears and lamentations of all Milan. And with her death, 
the whole Milanese state, that fabric which Lodovico Sforza 
has built up at such infinite cost and pains, crumbles into 
ruin. Fortune, which till that hour had smiled so kindly 
on the Moro, and raised him to giddy heights of prosperity, 
now turned her back upon him. In three short years he lost 
everything — crown, home, and liberty, — and was left to 
drag out a miserable existence in the dungeons of Berry and 
Touraine." ^*^ ' 

All Lodovico's actions in those three fateful years proved 
that he had not really lost his love for his charming wife, 
but that he mourned her loss with a bitterness which was 
intensely aggravated by remorse for his faithless conduct, and 
for the grief that had saddened her closing days. " From 
that time — adds Marino Sanuto (a contemporary chron- 
icler) the Duke began to be sore troubled, and to suffer 
great woes. — Beatrice was gone; and with her, all the joy 
and delight of the Duke's life had passed away. The court 
was turned from an earthly paradise Into the blackest hell, 
and ruin overtook the Moro and the whole realm of Milan." 
He caused Cristoforo Solarl to erect over her tomb in S. 
Maria delle Grazle a magnificent memorial, under which 
he destined himself eventually to lie by her side; these two 
carven figures were but a {portion of It. Often he left his 
palace. In the most troublous hours, to go and pray beside 

16a Julia Cartwright's "Beatrice d'Este." 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 207 

it, alone in the dusk, weeping for his bride; and in the last 
great cataclysm, when he was forced to leave his capital by 
the advancing French, at the ultimate moment he tarried 
amid the danger to pay a final visit to Beatrice's grave, to 
pray by her side for a final time, and take a last look at 
this beloved face and form. On leaving, " three times he 
turned around, while the tears streamed down his face;" 
then passed away forever. 

A half century later, when the Sforza rulers were already 
forgotten by a changing world, the monument of Beatrice 
was removed from the choir of S. Maria delle Grazie, by 
its prior's order, taken to pieces, and offered for sale. The 
monks of the Certosa, who alone preserved a grateful re- 
membrance of their munificent patron, then sent an agent 
to purchase the tomb's principal beauty, — its effigies of the 
great dead. Thus did the sole memorial of Lodovico and 
Beatrice come reverently to rest forever in the glorious 
mausoleum which he had given so much of his life to 
completing. And to these, their living likenesses, so for- 
tunately immortalised by the great sculptor's chisel, as 
Symonds has well said, " the palm of excellence in art and 
of historical interest must be awarded. Sculpture has rarely 
been more dignified and true to life than here. — Attired in 
ducal robes, they lie in state; and the sculptor has carved 
the lashes on their eyelids, heavy with death's marmoreal 
sleep." 1^ 

On raising my eyes at last, and looking about the transept, 
I noticed at once its marked difference from the superb, 
aspiring nave ; for here the renaissance forms had usurped the 
place of the gothic, — from the broad, rounded arches of the 
triple apses at each end, to the over-decorated baroque screen 
of coloured marbles before the choir. The latter's design 

17 J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 



2o8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

consisted of handsome monolithic columns in pairs, standing 
upon a high base and crowned by a rich entablature, with 
statues between the pairs and on the cornice. There were 
Renaissance frescoes here, too, upon the upper part of the 
left end-wall, — remaining portions of the extensive works with 
which Borgognone in his earlier years embellished the whole 
place, at Lodovico's command. The half-dome of the central 
apse held a large Coronation of the Virgin, with two striking 
personages in quattrocento costume kneeling at the sides, — 
men of strong, bold faces and fierce, hooked noses — the 
Moro and his father Francesco; to right and left of this 
tableau were two pairs of giant saints, — Ambrose and Peter 
Martyr, the Georges, father and son; and above it, next 
the vaulting, were two angels bearing festoons of fruit, from 
the hand of Bramante. Before the late-Renaissance altar 
stood one of A. Fontana's exquisite bronze candelabra, exe- 
cuted about 1580. 

But the chief object of beauty and interest here, next to 
Solari's monument, was the superb marble doorway in the 
rear wall near the choir, leading to the old sacristy, — one 
of the three carved here by Amadeo, which are reckoned 
amongst the few greatest treasures of the Certosa, and the 
few loveliest productions of the master. Here again the 
beauty lay in the flashing wealth of decoration, rather than 
in the lines of the design. The latter consisted of an arch- 
way gently recessed, supported by corinthian pilasters, carry- 
ing a broad architrave and pediment. Upon the inward 
slope from the pilasters, and on that of the arch, were vari- 
ous carved figures in niches and panels, including several 
charming groups of singing angels; the lunette over the 
doorway proper held an attractive relief of the Resurrection ; 
the spandrels were ornamented with busts, the frieze, with 
four medallions, containing portrait-heads of the four Sforza 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 209 

Dukes, up to and including Lodovico; in the triangular 
pediment above the rich cornice was a larger relieved figure, 
of some holy personage, and surmounting the pediment, at 
its corners and apex, vv^ere three more medallions with the 
heads of the final Visconti Dukes. All these sculptured 
portraits were done, not only with remarkable faithfulness 
and lifelikeness, but with that extraordinary decorative effect 
which never left Amadeo's mind. It is unnecessary to add, 
that all over the faces of the pilasters and archway, wherever 
the various panels and figures had allowed an inch of space, 
was draped a vesture of the most elaborate arabesque and 
dainty devices. 

Entering the old sacristy, I found there the celebrated 
large gothic reredos, carved from ivory by Bernardo degli 
Ubbriachi of Florence, which was originally intended for 
the Certosa's high-altar; a work marvellous for the amount 
of delicate skill expended upon it. Made about 1400, it 
is thoroughly gothic in spirit and detail, — and even more 
antique in the execution of its 67 minute, figured tableaux, 
whose forms and grouping are almost archaic; 64 of these 
are collected within the three pointed arches of the tryptich, 
picturing the lives of the Saviour and the Madonna; the 
others are medallions occupying its gables. Along the base 
and between the clustered columns at the angles are also 
a great many statuettes set in niches; and all the fine archi- 
tectural details are not only exquisitely shaped, and carved 
with foliated designs, but they are furthermore embellished 
by tarsiatura. Above this upon the wall I saw a handsome 
canvas by Borgognone, representing St. Augustine. 

Entering now the choir, I examined its present high-altar, 
which is a work of the middle cinquecento , by Ambrogio 
Volpi. Upon it stood two very lovely angels, carved by 
Tommaso Orsolini a century later; but still lovelier was 



210 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the small medallion affixed to the centre of its face, cut with 
a minute relief of the Descent from the Cross by Cristoforo 
Solari, — or, as Mr. Perkins says, by Amadeo.^^ The pave- 
ment here was a beautiful cinquecento mosaic. On both 
sides stretched magnificent choir-stalls of the same period, 
carved by Pietro di Vellata, with rich ornamentation by 
Bart, de' PollI of Mantua; the latter's fine tarsia-pictures 
upon the backs of the seats, with their stately figures of 
prophets, apostles, martyrs, and doctors of the Church, all 
slightly emphasised by gilding, were still another evidence 
of the countless first-class artists of that wonderful age 
whose names today are almost unknown. The oak doors 
in the choir-screen were themselves a treasure of the cinque- 
cento, each splendidly carved with three scenes from the life 
of the Saviour, with much surrounding decoration, by Theo- 
dore Fries of Brussels. 

Beautiful as all these things were, — impressive as were 
the great stained glass windows, the deep-hued later frescoes 
beside them, the classic marble tempietti beyond the choir- 
stalls, holding lifesize statues of saints, the gallery sweeping 
around far overhead, embellished with triple gothic windows, 
— still the supreme features of this gorgeous choir remain to 
be mentioned: they were two wonderful marble structures 
placed against the rear wall, at the opposite angles of the 
central apse, rising to a height of some twenty feet with a 
width of five feet, each one an astonishing mass of lovely 
sculpture from top to bottom. They may have been in- 
tended for reredoses, or for holy-water temples, or constructed 
purely for ornament ; at any rate, nothing more delightful in 
high-Renaissance work could be easily found. Each is built 
in five stages, in a sort of architectural scheme consisting of 
double bases, open loggia, entablature and pediment; the 

18 Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 211 

apex being crowned by a further group of relieved figures 
against the plaster of the wall, — the Saviour, or the Ma- 
donna, In a vesica piscis, surrounded by charming angels 
making melody. One structure Is thus devoted to the life 
of the Saviour, the other to that of the Virgin; but the 
reliefs are agreeably varied by the pilasters of the different 
stages, which divide them into three unequal compartments, 
and by the different couples of angels and putti that hold 
aside concealing curtains. Blaglo da Valrone executed the 
one, Stefano da Sesto the other, — but at the same time, in 
15 1 3; and they are equally beautiful In design. In exquisite 
grace of figures, and composition, — equally luxuriant In 
detailed adornment, and voluptuous In wealth of Imagery. 

Entering now the right transept, my attention was first 
captivated by the magnificent tomb of the Certosa's founder, 
which occupied upon this side the same relative position on 
the floor that the monument of Lodovico Sforza occupied 
on the other. The Visconti and the Sforza, the founder and 
the finisher, the two greatest rulers of their respective dynas- 
ties, — how fitting It was that they should so lie opposite, 
dominating the two transepts of their immortal shrine. 
But Glan Galeazzo's monument was entire, — one of the 
most splendid of the Renaissance ever conceived; for it was 
not constructed in the gothic style of his period, but was 
designed nearly a century after his death, by Galeazzo Pelle- 
grini ; Its execution having been begun by Cristoforo Romano 
and Benedetto Briosco (who also carved some of the reliefs 
on the base of the facade) and completed about 1560 by 
Gab. Alessi and several helpers. Glacomo della Porta, 
Nardino Novl, and a number of other excellent sculptors, 
also worked upon It. It consists, In a word, of a two- 
storied rectangular canopy covering a sarcophagus, the sec- 
ond story being apparently solid In - construction, with its 



212 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

sides devoted to statu-es and reliefs. It is about lo feet in 
length, 5 In breadth, and 20 In height; Is built entirely of 
Parian marble, and surrounded by a fanciful iron railing. 

The proportions of this splendid masterpiece are ideal, Its 
lines delightfully graceful and harmonious, its glowing beauty 
enhanced by the absence of that over-decoration which dis- 
tinguished the school of Amadeo. It stands upon a plain 
base about a foot In height; from this rise the canopy's six 
supporting piers, faced with corlnthlan pilasters, and con- 
nected by round arches; within these lies the rounded 
sarcophagus, capped by a rectangular lid longer and broader 
than its body, upon which, between two lifesize winged 
angels sitting at the head and feet, reclines the armoured 
figure of the great despot, In his ducal robes. These slender, 
very charming angels, holding the emblems of Fame and 
Victory, were the work of Nardino Novl. The tyrant's 
form appears tall and heavy-shouldered, the head distin- 
guished by the peculiar hair-dress of his period, — curled like 
a fillet about the brows and descending to the nape of the 
neck — and by a short pointed beard, with absence of mous- 
taches. The large, full-throated features are plainly marked 
by the passions, troubles and ambitions that made his life 
such a torrent of agitations; the lips are firmly compressed, 
and the brows still meet in a painful frown above the prom- 
inent, pointed nose. 

Along the tops of the arches and pilasters runs a most 
lovely frieze, of flowered festoons intersected by shields of 
arms, — which is crowned In turn by a delicately wrought 
cornice. In the middle of the front side of the upper storey 
stands a pleasing, lifesize statue of the Madonna holding 
her Child, before a shell-like niche; in the middle of the 
rear side stands a smaller statue of Gian Galeazzo himself; 
on each hand of these figures, and at the ends, are a series 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 213 

of excellent reliefs depicting scenes from the conqueror's 
life, enclosed between pretty pilasters with arabesqued faces, 
and topped by garlands of flowers. All around upon the 
cornice are posed statuettes in antique costume, four or five 
to each longer side, interspersed with short candelabra 
guarded by little twin sphynxes. Further classic ornamenta- 
tion lies in the Roman arms interlaced in the arabesques 
upon the faces of the lower pilasters, w^hich are really quite 
effective. The whole monument is delightful. -A curious 
thing about it is, that it does not, like the Sforza's tomb 
opposite, contain the remains of Gian Galeazzo, — although 
they had been brought to the Certosa in solemn procession 
for just such a consignment. But ninety years had elapsed 
since that ceremony, when the memorial was completed; 
and the friars, upon looking for the place of temporary 
interment, found to their amazement and perplexity that it 
had been totally forgotten. So the greatest of mediaeval 
despots to this day sleeps in some neglected corner. 

He is represented also by a painting in this transept: in 
the upper portion of the central apse — balancing the op- 
posite fresco of the two Sforzas, at the other end — I saw 
Borgognone's picture of the mighty Visconti with his two 
sons, kneeling before the Madonna; he holds in his hands 
the model of the Certosa church, thus indicating its dedica- 
tion to her name. To right and left of this were two more 
pairs of Borgognone's giant saints, and above it, another 
pair of Bramante's angels. But the chief beauties here, after 
Gian Galeazzo's tomb, were the two other celebrated door- 
ways of Amadeo, — both cut, like the first one, entirely from 
a glowing, creamy-white marble, and both likewise supremely 
decorative, with a great wealth of luxuriant carvings. One 
of them opened into the friars' Lavabo — or lavatory — just 
to the right of the choir; it was of the same general design 



214 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

as the doorway upon the choir's left, into the old sacristy, and 
further balanced it by the portrait-heads of seven duchesses, 
instead of dukes. Upon its frieze were the four Sforza 
duchesses, up to and including Beatrice d'Este, — attractively 
divided by winged putti-htads, and upon the corners and apex 
of the pediment rested the three Visconti busts. Every one 
of them was lifelike and full of charm, with their faithful 
variations of age, form, head-dress and expression. In the 
Beatrice one observes " the same soft, beautiful face, the same 
long coil of hair and jewelled net, that we see in her portrait 
in the Brera." The other doorway is in the opposite, west 
wall of the transept, leading to the adjacent cloister; it is 
smaller in size, but is equally embellished in every part, and 
perhaps even handsomer in the grace of its lines and the 
dainty loveliness of its reliefs. 

Inspecting the Lavabo, I found a small room lighted by 
a stained window of the quattrocentOj with a trough running 
along its right side for washing purposes, surmounted by an 
elongated marble tank pierced by six bronze spigots; and 
over the tank, in the lunette of the enfolding archway, stood 
an interesting marble relief of many figures, showing Christ 
washing the feet of the Apostles. The whole thing was 
uniquely conceived and well executed, — by Alberto Maffioli 
of Carrara, in 1490. Still prettier, however, was the small 
fresco by Luini on the opposite wall, — the so-called Madonna 
of the Carnation, a half-figure of exquisite tenderness and 
blissful feeling, as lovely in colour as in lines and moulding. 

There was a third door in this transept, simply framed, in 
the end wall to right of the middle apse. Passing now 
through it, I found myself in the so-called New Sacristy, — 
a spacious, lofty chamber, furnished with the usual appoint- 
ments of a vestry, including some desk-cases down the centre 
containing a lot of cinquecento choir-books, very handsomely 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 215 

illuminated. In one book I was shown a rare, lifelike por- 
trait of Gian Galeazzo, that was executed soon after his 
death. But the whole room was itself illuminated in splendid 
colours by a superb canvas occupying a large part of the 
end wall, — a glorious Assumption of the Virgin, grandly 
designed, richly toned, full of noble, inspiring figures and 
grace of lines; it was the celebrated masterpiece of Andrea 
Solario, which was finished 50 years after his death by 
Bernardino Campi. As Symonds put it: "From Borgo- 
gnone's majesty we pass into the quiet region of Luini's 
Christian grace, or mark the influence of Leonardo on that 
rare Assumption by his pupil, Andrea Solario. — Northern 
Italy has nothing finer to show than the landscape, out- 
spread in its immeasurable purity of calm, behind the grouped 
Apostles and the ascendant Mother of Heaven. The feeling 
of that happy region between the Alps and Lombardy, where 
there are many waters — and where the last spurs of the 
mountains sink in undulations to the plain, has passed into 
this azure vista." ^^ 

On the other walls I observed some productions of the 
other two artists mentioned, but not in their best methods, — 
a group of two angels by Borgognone, and two figures of 
saints now attributed to Luini; while over the entrance 
hung a good specimen of Bart. Montagna of Vicenza ^^^ 
(about 1490) depicting one of his quaintly graceful Madon- 
nas between two saints and three angels. 

From the transept I traversed Amadeo's third beau- 
tiful doorway, into the smaller of the two cloisters, on the 
south side of the church, whose arcades were called by 
Symonds " the final triumph of Lombard terracotta " ; and 

19 J. A. Symonds' "Sketches and Studies in Italy." 
19a fide Montagna and his work, in " Plain-Towns of Italy," 
chapter on Vicenza. 



2i6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

with the dazzling sunlight their loveliness burst upon me 
like a flood of joy. From the great temple of marble I 
stepped thus by a single pace into the ideal abode of that 
other material of the sculptor, so often cried down, which in 
Renaissance hands gave us these unsurpassable monastic 
closes. I stood at the inner corner of the Chiostro della 
Fontana, with its airy arcades stretching away at right 
angles, supported by slender marble columns mounted upon 
parapets, — with its spacious quadrangle blazing before me 
in the sun, backed by the beautiful outer sides of the farther 
arcades. This enclosure could be called " smaller " only 
by comparison with the immense one still to be seen; the 
trim outlines of the garden, once tenderly cultivated by the 
monks, were obscured by the rank growth of weeds and 
grasses; above the farther sides rose long brick structures of 
two and three stories ; the inner sides were dominated by the 
lofty buildings of the church. 

I turned to look at the outer face of Amadeo's doorway 
behind me; it was most daintily enchanting, although one 
of his earliest works, having been executed when he was 
only 19 years of age; the jambs were carved with two col- 
umns of fascinating puttini, in bas-relief, mounting upon 
one another's head and shoulders; the outer frames consisted 
of ingeniously novel arabesques in high-relief, interspersed 
with graceful figures of angels, prophets, monks, etc. ; there 
were neither columns proper, nor an entablature, but it was 
crowned with a lunette containing a most engaging relief 
of the Madonna surrounded by adoring friars. I now 
inspected the wonderful cotta-work of the arcades. This 
was entirely upon the outer sides, the corridors being white- 
washed from arch to floor. The delicate beauty of the 
broad, round arches on their slender shafts was inexpressibly 
enhanced by the wealth of glistening red sculpture overhead, 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 217 

with Its countless variations: pretty angel-forms topped the 
foliated capitals of the columns, half-figures of saints pro- 
truded from medallions In the spandrels above; and the 
mouldings, beneath the spiral architraves, were delightfully 
modelled of little baby-figures, end to end. The frieze upon 
two sides consisted of a row of monkish heads In panels, 
and upon the other two, of festoons upheld by enticing 
putti. The astonishing fertility of Invention and felicity of 
execution In this work, which was done by RInaldo de' 
Staurls, from 1463 to 1478, — might well have Inspired 
Freeman's dictum that " the true home of the terracotta 
figures of Naples Is north Italy, and they Illustrate — one 
of the happiest phases of the art of Lombardy, which, on 
the whole less intellectual, less poetic and less scientific than 
the sculpture of Florence, has much to attract In Its grace, 
Its sprightly realism, its portraits, and Its richly decorative 
effects." 20 

A more ambitious feature of the same work was revealed 
to me on reaching the southern corridor, where I saw, set 
In the wall, another lavaho of the monks, — another marble 
trough supplied by a row of bronze spigots, and decorated 
by many cotta figures, nearly lifeslze, at the sides and over- 
head. The principal tableau was a large relief of Christ 
at the well, with the attendant Apostles, in the lunette of 
the enclosing archway; in Its spandrels were two pretty 
angels, and above the cornice was a quaint Annunciation, of 
homelike setting. The contrast of the gleaming white mar- 
ble with the glowing crimson of the terracotta was most 
effective. — Along the western side of the quadrangle stretched 
the great refectory-hall, where all the friars once ate to- 
gether. I found its broad walls adorned with a number 
of old frescoes, of no special value, including several by 

20 Freeman's "Italian Sculpture," Chap. VI, 



2i8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Borgognone. From this corner there opened a fine view of 
the church's nave and transept, towering far above the op- 
posite arcades, to their picturesque colonnaded galleries and 
the crowning majesty of the dome. 

Penetrating a passage beside the lavaboj I emerged finally 
upon the great cloister, to the south, which was the one 
chief contribution of Filippo Maria Visconti to the Certosa. 
Its size was fairly startling. Around its immense square 
field extended the unbroken arcades, airily borne by similar 
slender columns mounted upon parapets, and carrying an 
almost equal wealth of cotta decoration. Good-sized statues 
of saints stood over the capitals of the shafts, with busts 
projecting from medallions aboue their heads, (in large part 
the work of de'Stauris and A. Riccio) ; and the mouldings of 
the arches were exquisitely sculptured into angels and winged 
/»w//i-heads. The frieze and cornice were conventional, but 
very handsome. On the farther sides the arcades were 
backed by two- and three-storied dwellings, 24 in all, each 
containing three friars' rooms, and surrounded by a little gar- 
den. This unique monastic idea seems to have been quite suc- 
cessful. It was in one of the attics of the adjacent larger 
buildings, then devoted to the storage of grain, that King 
Francis the First is said to have been confined for a short 
time immediately after the near-by battle of Pavia which 
shattered the French cause in Lombardy, In 1525, and led 
Francis himself to a Spanish prison. 

On returning to the church, its front entrance was re- 
gained, and my visit completed, by traversing the right-hand 
line of chapels. In these I found a series of excellent pictures : 
the first chapel (or seventh from the entrance) contained 
a pleasing Annunciation by Procaccini, with a charming 
modern predella showing the Flight into Egypt, by Galli da 
Romano; the second and third contained two more specimens 



THE MARVELLOUS CERTOSA DI PAVIA 219 

of Borgognone, In his happiest vein, — St. Syrus, the first 
bishop of Pavia, and a Crucifixion of remarkabre beauty, 
considered by many to be the artist's masterpiece ; In the fifth 
was a fine polyp tich. Its chief compartment showing a Ma- 
donna between two Cistercian saints, by the rare Macrino 
d'Alba, and the other compartments being from Borgognone's 
hand ; while the seventh chapel, next the entrance, displayed a 
handsome St. Veronica by Procacclnl. All of these chapels 
were richly furnished In late-Renaissance style, with splendid 
altars of pietra-dura. 

The so-called Palazzo Ducale, I found, was now partly 
devoted to a museum consisting of various sculptures, paint- 
ings and artistic odds and ends, none very remarkable, that 
had been collected during the Certosa's building or removed 
during Its decadence.^^ — With a last look at the marvellous 
fagade, glittering with Its Infinite carvings In the western 
sun, — a last thought of the great dead who had laboured 
at this wondrous temple, and given up to It their lives and 
genius, — I went out through the old vestibule, under the 
softly glowing frescoes of Lulnl, down the tree-lined avenue 
toward the sunset. And as I glanced over the luxuriant, far- 
spread meadows, softened by the long evening shadows of 
their copses of wood, Symonds' words once more came to my 
mind : " They are poems now, those fields ; with that un- 
changing background of history, romance, and human life — 
the Lombard plain, — against whose violet breadth the blos- 
soms bend their faint heads to the evening air." 

21 The visitor may find that one or more of the church's pictures 
have been removed to this museum, — which is also occasionally done 
to permit of copying. 



CHAPTER VII 

PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 

" Great cities, greater in decay and death, 
Dream-like with immemorial repose, 
Whose ruins like a shrine forever sheathe 
The mighty names and memories of those 
Who lived and died, to die no more, — shall close 
Your happy pilgrimage ; and you shall learn, 
Breathing their ancient air, the thoughts that burn 
Forever in the hearts of after-men." 

J. A. Symonds. 

Proud is ancient Pavia, not of her decadent present, but 
of her glorious past, with its transcendent leadership of 
centuries in the plain of Lombardy. Nowhere else, save in 
Rome alone, is there such a contrast between comparative 
modern insignificance and historic grandeur; nowhere else 
has there been such a fall, — from peerless heights of power, 
pomp and intellectuality, to a strangulated, amorphous desola- 
tion. The splendid Ticinum of imperial Rome, the royal 
residence of Theodoric the Great, the magnificent Papia from 
which Lombard dynasties ruled northern Italy, have left not 
a portico nor a column to mark their grandeur ; the Ghibelline 
capital of the royal Fredericks and Henry VII, the strong, 
perennial leader of Imperialistic leagues and forces, the 
brilliant court and formidable fortress of the VIscontI and 
Sforza tyrannies, — even they, so much more recent, have 
left behind them not one worthy monument ; and this ancient 
metropolis of marbled palaces, this mediaeval stronghold 
of a hundred towers, has sunk Into a little, sleepkig, provin- 

220 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 221 

cial town, with dark, monotonous streets and ugly buildings, 
inhabited by a population of only 30,000 souls. 

Yet in spite of all this, perhaps from the very sense of 
contrast, Pavia is still interesting, — very interesting. Her 
tragic, momentous history invests every fragment, every stone, 
surviving from those great epochs, with a fascination round 
which the imagination builds. The remaining quadrilateral 
of her Visconti Castle, first and foremost of the palatial 
strongholds of mediaeval despots, still seems to re-echo with 
the gay laughter of the blithe Beatrice d'Este, and the 
lamentations of the dethroned Isabella of Aragon. The 
classic quadrangles of the University, for so many ages the 
seat and centre of Lombard learning, still vibrate with the 
undying words of Volta and Spallanzanl. Imperial Rome 
still lives in the even rectangularlty of the narrow streets; and 
their sombre architecture still bears the brutal imprint of 
the conquering Lombards. 

This last is the most striking feature of the town today: 
gone are Its ancient palaces, vanished are the Innumerable 
mediaeval towers which for so long gave it the name of the 
Citta delle cento torri; but the place yet lingers in that 
same grim, savage mould which was given it in its grandest 
era, as the capital and metropolis of the Lombard kingdom. 
Here then, more than anywhere else, can one see the strange 
semi-civilisation, power, and cruel superstition of that bar- 
baric race, set forth In its ponderous, dark buildings and 
rude, grotesque art. Many and many a dwelling in those 
confined, dusky streets remains practically unaltered from 
that heroic age, with Its heavy walls and little, rough win- 
dows, and the stump of a fighting keep that once soared 
aloft ; ^ but it is in the churches, unchanged by later ages, 

^ Bell, in his " Observations on Italy," remarks justly upon 
Pavia's " decayed fortifications and fallen battlements, — her gloomy 



222 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

with their profusion of barbarous carvings, intact as no- 
where else, — that one fully discerns the race's fierce, wild 
character. S. Michele Maggiore is admittedly the oldest 
and most remarkable Lombard edifice of the plain; S. Pietro 
in Ciel d'Oro is nearly as old, and holds, besides, one of 
the greatest artistic productions of the trecento, — the famous 
Area of St. Augustine, containing the ashes of that Father 
of the Church. • 

It was the location of Pavia that perforce made it from 
earliest ages a city of importance : situated upon the northern 
bank of the Ticino river about five miles only from its con- 
fluence with the Po, and being thus practically at the junction 
of those two largest waterways of the plain, which were 
until the railroad era the principal routes of transportation, 
■ — it became inevitably a city of the first rank, both com- 
mercially and strategically, from the epoch of the Roman 
dominion downwards. It lay also upon the great north and 
south highway, — from Milan and the lake region to Genoa 
and the Meridionale. 

The Roman Ticinum was therefore a large and prosperous 
city.^ We read of it In 352 A. Dl as being the scene of 
one of the last battles between the usurper Magnentius and 
the forces of the Emperor Constantius.^ Its position made 
it always an important camp for the legions in charge of 
Cisalpine Gaul. Here they assembled in A. D. 408, prepar- 
ing to contest for Emperor Honorius the approach of Alaric 
with his Visigoths; Stilicho, the great general who had 

Gothic towers crumbling into ruins, — all present symbols of desola- 
tion, most painful and depressing." 

2 Here Cornelius Nepos was born, about 80 B.C.; and here 
Augustus and Livia, enjoying a sumptuous villeggiatura, received 
with triumphal honors Tiberius, returning from victory over the 
Germans. 

3 Gibbon, Vol. II, Chap. XVIII. 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 223 

already twice saved the empire, was at the foot of the Julian 
Alps with the advance guard, leaving most of his faithful 
lieutenants in command at Pavia; but the cowardly Hon- 
orius had determined to rid himself of his feared preserver, 
and accordingly, upon his arrival at the city, incited the 
soldiers to that infamous massacre which in one day de- 
stroyed all of Stilicho's adherents. They murdered *' the 
most illustrious officers of the empire. — Many lives were 
lost ; many houses plundered ; the famous sedition continued 
to rage till the close of the evening; and the trembling 
Emperor, who was seen in the streets of Pavia without his 
robes or diadem — approved the innocence and fidelity of 
the assassins." * This was followed by the assassination of 
Stilicho himself. Whereupon Alaric, no longer to be re- 
sisted, advanced to the occupation of Italy and the sack of 
Rome. 

Pavia escaped the attention of this conquerot*; and saved 
herself from Attila, 44 years later, by handing over to the 
Huns most of her amassed treasures; but in 476 she was 
taken by assault, and saw enacted within her walls the fall 
of the Western Empire. For it was to fortified Pavia that 
Orestes fled, with his son Romulus Augustulus, the last 
Emperor of Rome, when menaced by the revolted Visi- 
goths under the lead of Odoacer. " Pavia was immediately 
besieged, the fortifications were stormed, the town was pil- 
laged." ^ Orestes was slain, Augustulus dethroned, and 
Odoacer became the first King of Italy. That the strength 

4 Gibbon, Vol. II, Chap. XXX. 

5 Idem, Vol III, Chap. XXXVI. It was Epiphanlus who, when 
the stormed and sacked city was being burned by Odoacer, and all 
its young womanhood had been dragged to the Gothic camp, boldly 
presented himself before the savage king, and by the majestic elo- 
quence of his address obtained both the stoppage of the flames and 
the release of the maidens. 



224 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of Pavia was not much injured then, is proved by the fact 
that only 14 years later, when Odoacer fell in turn before 
the invading Theodoric, the latter made the city his central 
camp; and when, after the murder of the Visigothic King, 
the Ostrogoth turned his arms against the Burgundians, 
*' Theodoric's own family and the non-combatants of the 
Ostrogothic nation were in safe shelter, though in somewhat 
narrow quarters, in the strong city of Pavia, whose Bishop, 
Epiphanius, was the greatest saint of his age, and one for 
whom Theodoric felt an especial veneration." ^^ This was 
the founder of the sect of Epiphanites. 

At Pavia, when the conquest had been completed, The- 
odoric the Great fixed for a time his residence and court. 
He " built a palace, baths, and amphitheatre, and erected 
walls around the city;"® and continued to divide his time 
between this city, Ravenna and Verona. It was here that 
he perpetrated the unfortunate tragedy of the great Boethius, 
which has left such a tarnish upon his glory. Boethius, " the 
last of the ancients, and one who forms a link between the 
classical period of literature and that of the Middle Ages, in 
which he was a favourite author, — after filling the digni- 
ties of consul and senator in the court of Theodoric, fell a 
victim to the jealousy of the sovereign. The ' Consolation 
of Philosophy,' the chief work of Boethius, was written in 
his prison. Last of the classical writers, in style not impure, 
— in elevation of sentiment equal to any of the philosophers, 
and mingling a Christian sanctity with their lessons, he 
speaks from his prison in swan-like tones of dying elo- 
quence." '^ This prison was a tower in the city of Pavia, 
which, according to tradition, stood until 1584, and whose 

^a Gibbon, supra. 

6T. Hodgkin's "Theodoric the Goth." 

■^ Hallam's " Literature of Europe," Vol. I, Chap. I. 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 225 

site is still pointed out. In 528 the persecuted writer, — who 
had been the final Latinist to translate from the Greek 
poets, and whose own works were translated by Alfred the 
Great centuries later, — having been accused of witchcraft 
and magic, was done to death at Theodoric's command, by 
strangling and beating with clubs. His father-in-law, Sym- 
machus, was also slain. 

The mind of Theodoric never recovered from the shock 
of this double crime. Only a year or two later he lay dying 
himself, overwhelmed by the weight of guilt, confessing in 
a broken voice his miserable repentance. So he passed away, 
and was buried in his magnificent tomb at Ravenna. 

In the troublous times which soon followed, when Italy 
was swept by the formidable armies of the Emperor Justinian, 
in his efforts to unite the peninsula to the Byzantine crown, 
Payia was for some while the only city remaining in Gothic 
hands. " From its magnificent position at the angle of the 
Ticino and the Po, it was often in the early Middle Ages 
the last stronghold to be surrendered in northwestern 
Italy." ^ This was soon shown again in the invasion of the 
Lombards, when the Byzantine forces held out in Pavia 
after every other city had fallen. *' The royal camp (of 
Alboin) was fixed above three years before the western gate 
of Ticinum — and the impatient besieger had bound himself 
by a tremendous oath, that age, and sex, and dignity should 
be compounded in a general massacre. The aid of famine 
at length enabled him to execute his bloody vow; but, as 
Alboin entered the gate, his horse stumbled, fell, and could 
not be raised from the ground. One of his attendants was 
prompted by compassion, or piety, to interpret this a miracu- 

^T. Hodgkin's "Theodoric the Goth." — In 553, however, Pavia 
fell into the hands of the Byzantines, and there remained until Al- 
boin's coming. 



226 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

lous sign of the wrath of Heaven: the conqueror paused, 
and relented; he sheathed his sword, and peacefully reposing 
himself in the palace of Theodoric, proclaimed to the trem- 
bling multitude that they should live and obey. Delighted 
with the situation of a city which was endeared to his pride 
by the difficulty of the purchase, the prince of the Lombards 
disdained the ancient glories of Milan; and Pavia, during 
some ages, was respected as the capital of the Kingdom of 
Italy." ^ 

Once more was this same drama enacted: for when the 
Lombards had in their turn decayed, and their last sovereign, 
Desiderius, had in vain tried to ward off the looming Prank- 
ish storm by offering to Charlemagne his daughter, it was 
here, at Pavia again, that he made his final heroic stand 
against the invaders. " After a blockade of two years, Des- 
iderius — surrendered his sceptre and his capital." ^^ Thus 
did Pavia, after a royal pre-eminence of nearly 300 years, 
fall at one stroke, in 774, to the state of a provincial town; 
and 150 years later she suffered a far worse calamity, — the 
practically total destruction of nearly all her edifices, which 
had stood since Roman days. The splendid metropolis of 
Theodoric, of Alboin, and of the long line of Lombard 
Kings, with all its accumulated wealth of buildings and 

9 Gibbon, Vol. IV, Chap. XLV. — " From this moment commenced 
the great story of mediaeval Ticinum, henceforth named Papia. — 
The Lombard kings enlarged the city walls, and founded schools, 
palaces, and sumptuous edifices. Then arose also the greater part of 
its celebrated churches." — Giacinto Romano's " Guida di Pavia." 

10 Gibbon, Vol. IV, Chap. XLIX.— Charlemagne "conduit en 
France le roi vaincu, qui, enferme dans le convent de Corbre, y 
mourut bientot oublie." Partouneaux: Histoire de la Conquete de 
la Lombardie. — The conqueror highly prized Pavia, and bestowed 
upon it many benefits. Under the strong rule of the Frankish 
Counts it reposed peacefully for several generations. 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 227 

chattels, was stormed by the ferocious Hungarian invaders 
of the plain, and sacked with fire and slaughter. As Gib- 
bon says, speaking of that time: "Among the cities of the 
West, the royal Pavia was conspicuous in fame and splendour ; 
and the pre-eminence of Rome itself was only derived from 
the relics of the Apostles. The Hungarians appeared; 
Pavia was in flames; forty-three churches were consumed; 
and after the massacre of the people, they spared about two 
hundred wretches, who had gathered some bushels of gold 
and silver (a vague exaggeration) from the smoking 
ruins." ^^ With only too just sorrow did Ariosto cry: 

" Our Italy was given in a later day 
To Lombard, Goth and Hun a bleeding prey — 
Whom, because men still trod the crooked way, 
God sent them for their pain and torment sore." 

Not long after this the town (now, and from 900 on- 
wards, an independent republic) incurred a repetition of the 
conflagration, at the time of Emperor Henry the Sec- 
ond's first expedition into Italy, consequent upon a great 
riot between his soldiers and the citizens; when the flames 
consumed all that was still left of the ancient grandeur. 
And again, in 1139, it was taken by assault, on this occa- 
sion by the Emperor Lothaire, whose troops stripped the 
wretched inhabitants of the little they had. Yet, extraor- 
dinary as it may seem, during these centuries of calamity 
Pavia did not retrograde into a city of the second class, but 
in spite of the repeated destructions continued to be large 
enough and strong enough to head the imperial league of 
Lombard towns. This position she held always, being the 
chief stronghold of the emperors upon the plain, — with the 
exception of a brief reversal of policy during the reign of 

11 Gibbon, Vol. IV, Chap. LV, 



228 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Lothaire, which he punished as narrated. In this early- 
epoch of the Middle Ages Milan was the head of the Guelfic 
towns, and continued so to be until she fell into the hands 
of the Visconti. These two municipal leaders, with their 
respective followers, were therefore almost incessantly at 
war. But through it all Pavia, rebuilding ever since the 
fire of 1004, steadily increased in strength and prosperity; 
like all the other cities of the plain, she raised new walls, 
churches, and public buildings, by the self-devotion of her 
people. 

When Frederick Barbarossa descended into Lombardy in 
1 152, inaugurating the great era of Guelf-Ghibelline strife, 
he placed Pavia at the head of a new league of imperial cities ; 
her militia accompanied him to the siege of rebellious Tor- 
tona; and it was at Pavia's principal church, St. Michele, in 
1 155, that he solemnly placed upon his head the Iron Crown 
of Lombardy. During the subsequent 21 years, and after 
the razing of Milan, and the revolt of all other Lombard 
towns, Pavia alone remained steadfastly faithful to his cause, 
showing how deeply and ineradicably grounded had been 
her royal prejudices. She proved similarly true during the 
subsequent era of Frederick the Second. Shortly after his 
death, when his grandson Conradin appeared in her midst, 
bound upon his luckless expedition to claim the throne of 
Sicily, and escorted by Mastino della Scala of Verona and 
other princes, Conradin presumed to bestow upon Mastino 
the lordship of Pavia; the faithful citizens accepted the 
transfer without a murmur. This was in 1267; and just 
ten years later the Visconti seized Milan, by imprisoning 
the Della Torre. Pavia soon threw off the Scala yoke; and 
when Emperor Henry VII appeared in Lombardy in 13 10, 
at once submitted herself to him, and received the appoint- 
ment of an imperial vicar. 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 229 

Whfen Henry had departed, however, the strong Matteo 
Visconti Immediately assumed possession of Milan, in 13 11; 
and two years later he took possession of Pavia, which thus 
became a member of the Visconti dominions, — with the 
family of the Beccaria as viceroys. The Beccaria thus 
emerged supreme locally from their strife of several genera- 
tions with the Longasco.^^ The revolt of I357~8, which 
was characteristic of that curious age, being religious in its 
character and headed by the friar Jacopo de'Bussolari, — 
ended only in riveting the citizens' chains the tighter. When 
the Visconti territories were soon after divided for awhile, 
amongst the three sons of Stefano, the son of Matteo, PavIa 
became the chief portion and capital of the magnificent 
Galeazzo, who was celebrated as the handsomest prince of 
his period. It was he who then built the great Castello 
which subsequently held the city In thrall, and became re- 
nowned as the first and grandest despotic stronghold of the 
plain. His son Gian Galeazzo resided within It, and largely 
added to and adorned It, until he had disposed of his rela- 
tives and made himself master of Lombardy; then he re- 
moved to Milan. The celebrated Investiture of 1395, froni 
the Emperor Wesceslaus, created him Count of Pavia as 
well as Duke of Milan, with the lordship of 26 other 
towns. 

At the great tyrant's death In 1402, the Countship of 
Pavia was willed to his son Fllippo Maria, together with the 
possession of a number of adjacent cities ; the castle was again 

12 During Pavia's 400 years of glorious independence, first the 
local Fallabrini and Marcabotti families, later the Beccaria and 
the Longasco, contested long and fiercely between each other for 
predominance; the last Longasco, Ricciardino, meeting a storied, 
heroic death in the city's final defence against the Visconti. — Vide 
Luigi Ponzio : " Storia di Pavia." 



230 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

inhabited; and from it Filippo, like his father before him, 
proceeded to make himself master of all the Visconti do- 
mains. After his death, Pavia was one of the first towns to 
recognise the lordship of Francesco Sforza. The latter and 
his son Galeazzo successively resided at Milan ; but upon the 
murder of Galeazzo in 1476, and the accession of Lodovico 
II Moro as regent for his infant nephew, Gian Galeazzo, 
the latter was removed by the regent to the Castle of Pavia, 
which Gian Galeazzo continued to occupy until his death. 
It was here, in 1488, that the festivities of his marriage to 
Isabella of Aragon were celebrated with great eclatj includ- 
ing in their scope two of the most brilliant tournaments of 
Italian knighthood. And but three years later Pavia wit- 
nessed a still grander pageant, upon the wedding of Lodo- 
vico himself to the charming Beatrice d'Este, who first set 
foot here in her husband's realm after journeying by boat 
up the Po. 

"Whose fortunes well shall with her name accord; 
Who, while she lives, not only shall not miss 
What good the heavens to those below afford. 
But make, with her, partaker of her bliss, 
First among wealthy dukes, her cherished lord; 
Who shall, when she from hence receives her call, 
Into the lowest depth of misery fall." ^^ 

" The bride landed near the chapel on the bridge, and in 
the fading light of the short winter's afternoon, rode at 
Lodovico's side through the chief streets of the old Lombard 
capital. — On the princely cavalcade wound, amid a dense 
crowd of people shouting ' Moro ! Moro ! ' — up the long 
Strada Nuova, with its marble palaces and newly painted 
loggias adorned with busts and frescoes, in front of the 
stately Ateneo with its halls and porticoes, which had the 

13 Ariosto's " Orlando Furioso," LXII ; Rose's Tran. 



PA VIA THE PRIMEVAL 231 

reputation of being the finest university in all Italjs past 
the rising walls of the new Duomo, which Lodovico was 
building on the site of the ruined basilica of Charlemagne's 
time. — The beautiful park and gardens lay deep in snow, 
their lakes and fountains were all frozen over; but there was 
plenty to interest and amuse the visitors within the walls 
of the great Castello, of which they had heard so much, 
and which was said to be the grandest of royal houses in the 
whole of Europe. Three or four generations of masters 
had been employed by successive Visconti dukes to rear this 
glorious fabric. — On Tuesday the 17th of January, the 
long-delayed wedding formally took place in the Castello — 
in the ancient chapel of the Visconti. The bride, arrayed In 
a white robe sewn with pearls and glittering with jewels, 
was led to the altar by the Duchess of Ferrara and Mar- 
chioness of Mantua, supported by the young Don Alfonso 
(d'Este) his uncle Sigismondo, and a select retinue of Fer- 
rarese courtiers." ^* 

Much of the subsequent tragedy was played on this Pavlan 
stage. Its earlier acts continued to resound with festivities 
of every kind. Lodovico and his wife spent a large part 
of the summer seasons at Pavia, In the company of Glan 
Galeazzo and Isabella, entertaining Innumerable guests, 
joining together In hunting parties, theatricals, card games, 
and amusements of every nature. They indulged In elab- 
orate pageants and tournaments upon the christening of their 
several children, and upon any other occasion that afforded 
a fair excur^e for fetes. Bramante himself arranged their 
dramatic performances, and other artists of the first rank 
were called upon for their services. In the city itself Lodo- 
vico rebuilded the Cathedral and a number of civic struc- 
tures, revivified the old University into a new splendour and 

14 Julia Cartwright's "Beatrice d'Este." 



232 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

reputation, and did all in his power to establish a lively pros- 
perity. But underneath it all ran the dark undercurrent of 
his nephew's virtual imprisonment, the dissatisfaction of the 
Duchess Isabella, and Lodovico's own determination, inspired 
by the birth of his sons, to seize the throne in his own name. 

A climax was brought on by the arrival of Charles VIII 
of France in 1494, whom the Moro had so unwisely called 
upon to seize the throne of Naples. He came directly to 
Pavia, via Asti and Casale, and was gorgeously entertained 
by Lodovico at the Castello. There, however, he saw per- 
force the weakly Gian Galeazzo, his own cousin, now 
stretched upon a bed of illness; and Isabella, falling at his 
feet, poured out with tears her lamentations oyer their de- 
thronement and begged him to secure justice for her hus- 
band. " The situation was indeed enough to move a 
stouter heart than that of the feeble young King." ^^ But 
he was firmly bound to Lodovico ; and had to go on his way 
to Naples, leaving the young couple still unsatisfied. The 
Moro, who was naturally enraged, accompanied his guest 
as far as Piacenza. There the news was brought them of 
the death of the unfortunate Gian Galeazzo, within a week 
of the royal interview. Occurring so suddenly, under such 
circumstances, so aptly to remove all danger from Lodovico's 
path, he was immediately accused by general voice of being 
a poisoner. The accusation has clung from that day to this, 
— even Symonds positively affirming the truth of it ; but 
the best of recent criticism, weighing the young duke's severe 
illness and Lodovico's character, holds him guiltless of the 
death. Of his innocence I have not the faintest doubt. 

But although the Moro and Beatrice thus realised their 
ambition, the final acts of the tragedy soon occurred: Lo- 
dovico turned faithless; Beatrice pined, and died; Louis XII 

15 J. A. Symonds' "Age of the Despots." 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 233 

of France, following the example set by Charles VIII, 
descended with his army to seize the throne of Milan; 
Pavia and its Castello were occupied by him; and Lodovico 
was led away to his French dungeon. The conquerors, how- 
ever, were not long suffered to enjoy their possession; Louis 
died immaturely, and with the accession of Francis I to his 
crown, and that of Charles V to the joint thrones of Spain 
and Austria, there commenced the supreme struggle be- 
tween them for northern Italy. Once more was Pavia the 
centre of strife for Lombardy's ownership; once more was 
she the final stronghold of present owners against new in- 
vaders; and around her she saw enacted the closing scenes 
of the catastrophe. They succeeded each other like the 
flashing films of a cinematograph. For three years, from 
15 12 to 15 15, her Castello and that of Milan were occupied 
by Maximilian Sforza, the elder son of Lodovico, who was 
supported against the French armies by the Swiss; Francis 
I then dethroned him, and held the country for six years; 
in 1 52 1 he was in turn driven out by the Spaniards, allied 
with the Pope and several other Italian princes, including 
the Marquis of Mantua, — who thus assisted in placing upon 
the precarious Lombard throne his cousin Francesco, the 
younger son of Lodovico. 

*' Lautrec (Francis' commander-in-chief) now concen- 
trated all his forces on Pavia, which was valiantly defended 
by Federico Gonzaga (Marquis of Mantua) who success- 
fully repulsed a determined assault of the French, and, in 
spite of the small numbers of his force and the lack of ar- 
tillery, compelled them to retire to Monza." ^^ There they 
were decisively beaten, and then retreated across the Alps; 
leaving the Castle of Milan still, however, in the hands of 
a French garrison. Duke Francesco, the last of the Sforzas, 

16 Julia Cartwright's " Beatrice d'Este." 



234 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

therefore occupied the Castello of Pavia; it was like a 
shadow, an echo, of the bright days of his parents forever 
past. He was constrained still to remain there, when 
Francis, approaching in 1524 at the head of the largest army 
he had yet raised, first seized Milan, then invested Pavia 
by assault and siege. The immemorial stronghold resisted 
all his attacks and arts from October till February; then 
Pescara, Charles' general, advanced from Lodi with the 
imperial forces which he had been so long preparing, and the 
tremendous drama, which the Moro had inaugurated thirty 
years before, was brought to its terrible culmination. 

The two armies closed between the vl^alls of Pavia and the 
Certosa. The battle " was very hardly contested, as both 
sides knew that the possession of Italy was at stake. — The 
bravest nobles on the side of the French had fallen, the King 
himself was wounded. — He was borne down by force of 
numbers and compelled to surrender himself prisoner. He 
was in a terrible condition, bleeding so as scarcely to be 
recognised. — The French army was entirely destroyed; out 
of 36,000 men, 12,000 lay dead on the field." ^^ Well 
could Ariosto cry, — - 

" II meglio della nobilta 
Di tutta Francia alia campagna estlnto." ^^ 

1"' Oscar Browning's " Age of the Condottieri." 

18 " Orlando Furioso," canto XXXIII ; which is continued by Mr. 
Rose thus: 

" How many swords, how many lances, see 
The Spaniards round the valiant monarch wield. 
Behold! his horse falls under him; yet he 
Will neither own himself subdued nor yield. — 
The monarch well defends him from the foe, 
All over bathed with blood of hostile slain. 
But valour stoops at last to numbers: lo! 
The King is taken, is conveyed to Spain," 







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PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 235 

It was another Cannae; the best and bravest of the noble 
families of France strewed that bloody ground as thick as 
fallen leaves in Autumn. Gal. di San Severino, La Tre- 
mouille, La Palisse, De Lescun, the Dukes of Suffolk and 
Lorraine, and hundreds of other famous soldiers slept their 
last sleep. Many others went into Spanish captivity with 
their sovereign; who wrote after the disaster those famous 
lines to his mother, — " De toutes choses ne m'est demeure 
que I'honneur et la vie ! " 

The Spaniards, now undisputed masters of Lombardy, 
quartered their cruel soldiers in Pavia and Milan, and for 
many months indulged in a continuous orgy of plunder, rape 
and torture, that left an ineffaceable impression upon the 
miserable populace. The following year they dethroned 
Duke Francesco. In 1527 France made another effort, 
and a new army under Lautrec suddenly appeared in Lom- 
bardy, marched straight upon Pavia, and captured it by sur- 
prise. "During eight days they barbarously pillaged that 
great city, under the pretence of avenging the defeat of their 
king under its walls." ^^ From this final destruction the 
historic town never recovered. The French marched away 
southward, to perish before Naples ; the vile Spanish sway was 
resumed; and under it the city steadily dwindled away for 
two centuries. Peace was made with France in 1529, and 
Charles received the two crowns of Italy and the Empire 
from the Pope in 15 30. At the same time he restored the 
sickly Francesco Sforza to his dukedom of Milan; but it 
was for five years only, for Francesco died in 1535, and 
while he lived was but a puppet in Spanish hands. 
Wretched Pavia, however, was not at first included in the 
transaction, but was handed over to the rapacious and 

i» Sismondi's " Italian Republics," Chap. XV. 



236 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

tyrannical Leyva, Charles' general, to be misruled and plun- 
dered as a reward for his services. 

But the city and its territory alike were now completely 
ruined. " There were no dwellers in the villages, and in 
the once flourishing cities of Lombardy, whole families might 
be seen begging their bread. * It is, sir,' wrote Nicholas 
Carew to King Henry VIII, ' the most pity to see this 
country, as we suppose, that ever was in Christendom. — 
Betwixt Vercelli and Pavia the whole country has been 
wasted. We found no man nor woman labouring in the 
fields, and all the way we saw only three children, gathering 
wild grapes. The people and children are dying of hun- 
ger.' " ^^ It was into this desolation that there now entered, 
to rend and torture what little of humanity was left, those 
frightful evils which Symonds called " the seven Spanish 
devils," — and foremost in which were the Inquisition and 
Jesuitry. Conditions naturally grew still worse, year by 
year, till " wolves prowled through empty villages around 
Milan; in every city the pestilence swept off its hundreds 
daily; manufactures, commerce, agriculture, the industries 
of town and rural districts, ceased ; — art and learning lan- 
guished; there was not a man who ventured to speak out his 
thought or write the truth ; and over the Dead Sea of social 
putrefaction floated the sickening oil of Jesuitical hypoc- 
risy." ^^ Who can wonder that the ancient metropolis of 
the Lombards became the insignificant city of today; 
the wonder is that it still exists at all. 

It did, in fact, during those two terrible Spanish cen- 
turies, dwindle into naught but a shadow of a town, in whose 
ruins dwelt a few hundred denuded spectres, owned by some 
scores of " noble families " that eked out an existence by 

20 Julia Cartwright's " Isabella d'Este." 

21 J. A. Symonds' " The Catholic Reaction." 



PA VIA THE PRIMEVAL 237 

currying favour with their rulers; the very same families 
whose patricians of today look boastingly back to the Spanish 
origin of their pride and fortunes. But w^ith the War of the 
Spanish Succession, and the reversal of Lombardy to Aus- 
tria in 1 7 15, came a change for the better. The great Em- 
press Maria Theresa suppressed the fearful Inquisition, ex- 
pelled the Jesuits, reformed the extraordinary privileges and 
abuses of the clergy, abolished judicial torture, founded and 
endowed schools, academies and universities,^^ patronised the 
arts and sciences, and gave a new impetus and development 
to Lombard agriculture. Her son Joseph II was another 
sincere reformer, who still further relieved the people from 
their unequal burdens and their thraldom to the Church. 
The result was a new life in the plain of Lombardy, — a 
steady rebuilding of Pavia, and its other ancient cities. 

The coming of the great Revolution w^as not welcomed 
by Pavia as fervently as elsewhere in Lombardy. Still im- 
perialistic to the bottom, she showed a hostile front to Bona- 
parte's exhortations; and, when he had advanced into Vene- 
tia, she fathered a wide-spread revolt against his garrisons 
which, though unsuccessful in Milan, cleared her own streets 
of the French invaders. " Bonaparte hastened himself to 
Pavia, the seat of the revolt ; and storming the town, delivered 
it over to sack and pillage, and restored order. The people 
had spared the lives of his soldiers; he shot the popular 
chiefs, and declared that if the blood of one Frenchman had 
been shed, he would have erected a tall column bearing the 
inscription, — " Here stood the city of Pavia! " ^^ Such was 

22 It Is to this Empress, and Joseph II, that the remarkable re- 
vival of Pavia's historic university is due, as well as the rebuilding 
of several other institutions. 

23 G. Hooper's *' Italian Campaigns of Gen. Bonaparte." 



238 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the old town's final disaster, — upon a final manifestation 
of her seemingly ineradicable imperialism. 

When Napoleon became imperial, Pavia was content, and 
greeted him upon his arrival with Josephine in 1805, on 
their way to the coronation at Milan, with unanimous and 
loyal " Vivas" " The people of all ranks," says Lady Mor- 
gan, " came to meet this Cassar of the day, as his imperial 
barge was wafted down the classic waves of the Po. — An 
elegant Bucentoro transferred them, with their suite, to our 
shores. — The cannon fired a salute, to which the vivas of 
the spectators replied. — Then came prefects, and corporate 
bodies, from all the departments, to do homage to their 
sovereign. — Pavia was brilliantly illuminated to receive her 
new Theodoric; and she appointed for his body-guard the 
elite of her population." 2* 

The Emperor's first visit was to the city's one great and 
lasting institution, the University, whose first foundations, 
as the oration of the welcoming Rector reminded him, were 
laid by his glorious predecessor, Charlemagne. Gian Gale- 
azzo had richly endowed it; Lodovico il Moro had raised It 
to its early pinnacle of greatness; and, after the ruin of the 
Spanish era, Maria Theresa had revivified it, placed it in 
the splendid new buildings that yet exist, and started it upon 
a new prosperity. It remained for Napoleon to Imitate the 
Moro, and cap it with a second climax of aggrandisement. 
Nobly he performed the task, making It " an object of mu- 
nificent protection to the new government of the Kingdom 
of Italy." The present government has continued such 
fostering care; so that, though the institution may not quite 
equal its supremacy of Sforza days — 'when it had 3,000 
students, and 90 professors the most illustrious of the world, 
— still It is one of the two or three foremost in Italy's total 

24 Lady Morgan's " Italy." 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 239 

of twenty-one, with numerous and varied colleges, a huge 
library of 200,000 volumes, and important collections cov- 
ering nearly every branch of science and art. To it is due 
the reputation of Pavia of today, which is embodied in For- 
syth's dictum: "This is the present metropolis of Italian 
science. ^^ 

But there was another institution associated with Pavia, 
it will be remembered, which was fully as important to her 
prosperity as the University : this was the old canal to Milan ; 
and Napoleon again followed the Moro's example in putting 
this, at large expense, into an effective condition. The re- 
sulting, traffic has done more than aught else to restore the 
city to a state of comparative wealth and comeliness. Upon 
looking at the map, where the town appears in the shape of 
an irregular hexagon upon the northern bank of the Ticino, 
one sees the canal approaching straight from the north and 
striking the hexagon beside its northernmost point, whence it 
diverges along the eastern fortifications to the river. The 
extensive main docks and warehouses lie beside it without 
the northern gate. Porta Milano, — just on the outer side of 
the Castello. The hexagon has two sides upon the west, 
and three upon the east, the latter forming the longer line, 
because the Ticino here flows to the southeast. Upon the 
sixth side, formed by the stream itself, a famous old covered 
bridge crosses to the small suburb on the southern bank, 
carrying, as did its predecessors, the ancient Roman high- 
way to Genoa and the south. 

This highway, approaching from Milan beside the canal, 
enters by the Porta Milano, and traverses the middle of the 
city in a straight line to the bridge, forming thus from 
earliest ages the one principal thoroughfare of the town. 
Now it has, of course, been renamed the Corso' Vittorio 

25 Forsyth's "Excursions in Italy." 



240 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Emanuele. Near its centre, and one block on the west, 
lies the principal Piazza Grande, with the Duomo upon its 
southern side; from which extends the wide Corso Cavour 
to the single western gate, of the same name, beside the 
great bastion in the middle of that side of the fortifications; 
and just without this stands the railway station. An east- 
ward continuation of Corso Cavour, the Via Mazzini, runs 
to the Piazza and large Palazzo of the Municipio. These 
two main avenues thus divide the city into four quarters, of 
which that on the southeast is considerably larger, on account 
of the extension of river and town in that direction; and 
this is Itself divided by the third chief avenue, Corso Gari- 
baldi, which extends midway between Via Mazzini and the 
Ticino, from Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the main east- 
ern gate, Porta Garibaldi. Without this lie the cemetery, 
and a subsidiary railway station on the branch to Cremona, 
which is connected with the main station by a line curving 
around just outside the city walls. 

It was a beautiful May morning when I approached 
Pavia, upon an express train from Milan; and as we trav- 
ersed the level meadows between the Certosa and the ancient 
city, and I gazed out over their fruitful expanse of smiling 
crops and orchards, brightened by numerous shining farm- 
houses with their out-buildings, it was difficult to realise it 
as the scene of one of the most momentous battles of all 
history. Here indeed would apply those lines of Macaulay: 

" Now on the place of slaughter 
Are cots and sheepfolds seen, 
And rows of vines, and fields of wheat, 
And apple-orchards green — 
Little they think they on those strong limbs 
. That moulder deep below." ^6 

26 Macaulay's " Battle of Lake Regillus." 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 241 

When the huge northern bastion of the city walls loomed 
before us, we parted company from the canal, diverging to 
right along the western ramparts, whose imposing brick 
structures were crowned with modern avenues of trees. In 
another minute the large covered station was entered ; and 
descending, I climbed into the 'bus of the famous old inn 
of the Croce Bianca, and we rattled away over cobble-stones 
through the Porta Cavouj, down the Corso of the same 
name. The hostelry proved to be situated most centrally, 
at the very intersection of the two main thoroughfares, and 
to be of the most pleasing old-fashioned style, which 
combines antique comfort and quaintness with modern 
cleanliness and low prices. When I say cleanliness, I am 
necessarily speaking comparatively, confining my thoughts 
to the smaller cities of the peninsula. A woman, more- 
over, is often shocked by what a mere man will never see. 
But I know that my stay in Pavia was made very pleasant. 

Sallying out at once for my first promenade, I made for 
the Piazza Grande a block to the west, my spirits exalted 
with those keen sensations which Rogers has so well ex- 
pressed : " The day we come to a place which we have long 
heard and read of, and in Italy we do so continually, is an 
era in our lives; and from that moment the very name calls 
up a picture. How delightfully too does knowledge flow, 
in "upon us, and how fast." — What a splendid first picture 
was this glorious old piazza now opened before me, three or 
four blocks in length from north to south, and half as wide, 
surrounded on all sides by enchanting mediaeval houses of 
lofty stature, painted in all the proverbial colours of the 
rainbow, and rising upon stuccoed gothic arcades with heavy 
pillars. The fagades wound in and out, curving irregularly 
this way and that, pierced by windows of every age and 
style. Under the shadowy arches lay still darker little 



242 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

shops and cafes, thronged by gesticulating people. The 
wide central space was filled with a village of wooden 
booths, of canvas roofs and umbrellas, exposing every kind 
of eatable and household article, — an agitated sea of colours, 
moved by the vociferous crowd of bargainers. Midway it 
was broken by a flowing column of vehicles and pedestrians, 
crossing transversely, — the traffic of the Corso Cavour, 
which exactly bisects the long parallelogram.^'' 

The buildings, though picturesque, were not noteworthy, 
with two exceptions: in the middle of the western side was 
one fagade bearing the remains of a huge Tiepolesque fresco, 
of the Madonna amidst various mitred saints; on the south 
side rose a stately Renaissance edifice, fronted by a three- 
storied colonnade of grey and white stone shafts upon stucco 
railings, and surmounted by a clock-faced gable. This was 
the ancient Broletto, which was for nearly i,ooo years the 
centre of the city's administration.^^ Behind this loomed 
the massive brick choir, and upon its right, the left transept, 
of the Cathedral that was rebuilt by the Moro, — which 
fronts to the west upon a separate piazza; and far above 
them soared into the sky its gigantic dome, — consisting of 
an octagonal brick drum of unfinished sides, a leaden cupola, 
an octagonal grey stone colonnade, and a two-storied lantern 
of the same material, tipped with a gilded cross. The bells, 
however, were visible in a lower, baroque tower this side 
of the dome, protruding ponderously from the arches of the 
little belfry. 

27 This central space of the city, for centuries the hub of its 
mediaeval and Renaissance life, was formerly fronted by the Pa- 
lazzo del Comune, — now disappeared ; here were held the countless 
pageants of those lively generations, — Including the celebrated 
tournament of 1587, about the last of Its kind in Lombardy. 

28 Here in 1175 was entertained Frederick Barbarossa. The logge 
were added about 1563. 



PAVIA THE PRIMEVAL 243 

I walked round to the smaller Piazza del Duomo, to view 
the curious facade, which was left unbuilt in the Renaissance 
era, and only partly completed in 1898. Except for two 
colonnaded galleries of marble or whitish stone, crossing the 
front at its middle and top, it was entirely of rough brick, 
painted a reddish hue with drab buttresses and window- 
frames; its three vertical divisions contained each a plain 
portal, surmounted by a circular window between the gal- 
leries. But that which instantly engaged my attention to 
a greater extent, was the extraordinary campanile rising 
beside it on the left, — the so-called Torre Maggiore, — a 
monstrous erection of the I2th or 13 th century, whose 
massive, quadrangular brick walls ascended without an aper- 
ture till they reached the ornate renaissance belfry, 256 feet 
above the pavement; the latter was of grey stone, with 
double arches on each face, adorned with coupled columns 
and pilasters, upholding a heavy entablature, — and looked 
incongruous enough upon such a typical mediaeval tower. 
This was emphasised by the ruinous romanesque architecture 
about its base, — the congregated remains of the adjacent 
church of S. Stefano which preceded the present Duomo, — 
including a fine stone doorway, quadruply recessed, with 
byzantine designs upon its mouldings and tympanum; over 
which lingered two fascinating early windows, also deeply re- 
cessed, — one with six concentric mouldings, the other double- 
arched, and divided by quaint little shafts one behind the 
other; while scattered about in the brick wall were various 
other romanesque fragments and bits of coeval sculpture. 

These are all that are left of the pre-existing church of 
S. Stefano, a famous Lombard edifice, remodelled in the 
twelfth century, which Lodovico cleared away in 1488 in 
order to erect his more ambitious pile. For the latter he 
commissioned Bramante to make the plans, assisted by Dolce- 



244 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

buono and Cristoforo Rocchi ; — though the last two seem 
rather to have superintended the actual building, aided also 
by Ventura Vitone and Amadeo. The hand of the great Bra- 
mante was visible as soon as I entered; for I found myself 
under one of his typical imposing constructions, in the form 
of a Latin cross beneath a mighty dome. The tremendous 
size and majesty of this dome dwarfed to insignificance the 
short arms of the cross, — so spacious was it in breadth, so 
ponderous in its huge supporting blocks of white granite, so 
glistening in their polished surfaces and its flood of showering 
light ; and it towered to heaven above the uncluttered marble 
pavement as if it would pierce the clouds, higher even than 
the great tower without, — an even 300 feet above the floor. 
The nave also was lofty, its ribbed vaulting supported by 
three huge piers on each side, composed of clustered square 
pillars with Corinthian caps, which also divided oif the lower, 
vaulted aisles, with their semicircular altar-recesses. These 
last were separated by clustered corinthian pilasters, mount- 
ing to a heavy cornice. Over the broad arches connecting 
the piers, along the upper walls of the nave, ran a series of 
colonnaded niches. All was constructed of the same pol- 
ished granite. 

The vast octagonal rotunda of the dome formed a pro- 
longation of the nave, still wider, into which the aisles 
opened freely, and beyond which they were continued be- 
side the deep, elevated choir. From six of the eight of the 
ambulatory surrounding the rotunda (the seventh being the 
opening of the nave, and eighth that of the choir) projected 
giant recessed archways in the master's usual manner, upheld 
by enormous piers with double cornices and many angles. 
The left-hand recess held simply an ugly baroque altar; the 
right-hand one formed a raised chapel, with modern reliefs 
on its walls and above and below its altar. The choir termi- 



PA VIA THE PRIMEVAL 245 

nated in an apse pierced by a window of blue stained glass; 
and from this there fell a strange, ghastly radiance upon the 
coffined bier standing before the high-altar, with its burning 
candles, — while from its dusk echoed the hollow, sepulchral 
chant of the service for the dead. 

The altars and walls of the aisles were adorned with 
various paintings of the later Renaissance, of which but two 
were noteworthy, — those on the right and left of the nave 
just before the rotunda, by D. and G. B. Crespi. The more 
important pictures, by Gatti and Gianpetrino, had been re- 
moved to the city museum. In the crypt beneath the choir 
I was shown a very richly sculptured altar of the decadent 
period, dedicated to S. Siro, the patron saint of the church, 
•who was the first bishop of the city ; Tommaso Orsolini was 
the artist. On emerging from the Duomo I noticed the 
Palazzo Vescovile opposite, — a large, stuccoed building, with 
a handsome renaissance arcade, supported on coupled columns. 

Returning to the main street, the Corso Vittorio Eman- 
uele, I started to walk up its northern portion, confined 
between three- and four-storied buildings of stained and crum- 
bling stucco, several centuries old for the most part. Here 
there were few shops, and but an occasional cafe, — ^which 
are mostly to be found in its southern half, and upon the 
Corso Cavour. I had taken not a hundred paces when, 
upon the right side, I came to the great edifice of the Uni- 
versity; it was fully 300 yards in length, but only two 
stories in height,' of plain stucco, with barred lower windows 
and a heavy cornice ; — the same building which was begun 
by Lodovico Sforza, and finished under Maria Theresa.^^ 

29 Here Christopher Columbus, about 1450, came to perfect his 
studies in cosmography, astrology, and nautical science; and it was 
here, a generation later, that the genius of Leonardo da Vinci de- 
veloped, upon the studies of natural and anatomical science. 



246 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Some of the rear portions are of other periods, so that it 
might better be called a congeries of buildings, as it is of 
colleges. Five separate quadrangles extend parallel with 
the Corso, entered from it by short passages; though usually 
all the Ingresses are closed except the central. As I ap- 
proached, large numbers of students were promenading the 
avenue, lounging about the corridors, and filling the courts 
with disputatious groups. Looking at their conventional 
modern garb, I thought of the priestly gowns forced upon 
them in Spanish days, and of the military uniforms and 
cocked hats in which they swaggered under Napoleon. 

Entering the middle quadrangle, I found it imposingly 
surrounded by two stories of arcades, with coupled, mono- 
lithic, granite columns, and adorned by a statue of Volta* 
in the centre; round the walls were many sculptured memo- 
rials to past teachers and scholars, some of them quite hand- 
some, — especially the Leonardesque relief to Prof. Bugitella, 
and another of 1495 showing four charming Raphaelesque 
pupils seated on a bench, listening to a lecture. The other 
courts, reached by connecting corridors, proved similar in 
style and ornamentation; exceptionally numerous were their 
busts and tablets to the honoured dead, — while one contained 
two well preserved columns of the Roman city, and various 
stone and terracotta architectural fragments of the Gothic 
period. Between the second and third courts mounted the 
handsome marble staircase to the upper floor. The spa- 
cious Library, the Hall of Natural History, the Gallery of 
Animal Life, 200 feet in length. In fact all the different 
cabinets of the collections, were striking In themselves and 
most Interesting In their contents. 

The distant collegated botanical garden, with its varied hot- 
houses and assembled exotics, later afforded me a lively 
pleasure; and the Gran $ala of the attached Collegio Bor- 



PA VIA THE PRIMEVAL 247 

romeo, in the extreme southeastern angle of the city, which 
was founded by Cardinal Borromeo and erected by Pelle- 
grino Pellegrini, and which is still used for the conferring of 
degrees and other important gatherings, — proved magnifi- 
cent both in form and decorations. Its extensive late- 
Renaissance frescoes by Federico Zucchio, were worth seeing 
for their ornamental quality, as a complete decorative effect. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PAVIA THE PIOUS 

" Saint Augustine ! Well hast thou said, 
That of our vices we can frame 
A ladder, if we will but tread 

Beneath our feet each deed of shame! " 

Longfelloia, 

In the afternoon I continued my walk upon the Corso Vlt- 
torio Emanuele, proceeding farther north. Though the 
chief thoroughfare of the city, it was only eight or ten yards 
wide from wall to wall; opposite the University, and upon 
both sides beyond, it was shadowed by the old mouldering 
stuccoed palaces of the Pavian noble families, interspersed 
with occasional churches and public buildings. Among the 
latter were the stuccoed palace of the Provincial Council, 
and the plain brick Prefettura, both opposite the University's 
northern end; before them rose a modern monument to 
Italy, represented as a female with castellated crown, bear- 
ing a shield with these words inscribed, — " Ai Pavesi Caduti 
per la Patria." ^ Several blocks farther north, an extraor- 
dinarily wide avenue opened to the west, shaded by four 
rows of horsechestnut trees, running between simple dwell- 
ings to the distant ramparts; it was the so-called Allea di 
Piazza Castello, which was laid out by the French during 
their short occupation. The Castle itself here appeared upon 
the right, facing southwesterly toward me, at the rear of a 

1 " To the Pavians fallen for their country." A memorial of the 
Risorgimento. 

248 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 249 

broad piazza. Behind this extensive space, bare except for 
a monument to Garibaldi surrounded by flowerbeds, I saw 
an enormous, square, brick edifice, three stories in height, with 
four-storied quadrangular towers at the angles, and numer- 
ous large pointed windows in pleasing terracotta frames, 
placed at regular Intervals; those in the towers were double- 
arched, and divided by gleaming marble mullions; 
machicolated, forked battlements crowned every wall ; around 
it still stretched the wide, deep moat, crossed at the front- 
centre by a solid modern bridge; the latter was arched 
midway by the old guard-tower, which formerly, as its 
apertures showed, served to raise a pair of drawbridges. 

This central structure, or palazzo proper, was all that 
now remained of the once glorious fortress; gone yv^ere all 
Its outer buildings and wide-sweeping fortifications, which 
formerly covered the broad empty areas today extending 
upon three sides. In the rear it still abuts directly upon the 
city's northeastern rampart. Shorn of Its ennobling enceln- 
ture, the desolate palazzo exhibited Its ruined state In the 
discoloured walls, and windows blocked up except for small, 
square-headed openings. It was now desecrated — for so it 
seemed to me — to the uses of a barrack, and soldiers lounged 
about the bridge and unf ramed portal ; I was obliged to secure 
the permission of the officer of the guard In order to enter. 
Traversing the vaulted passage, I stood In the spacious court- 
yard that had glittered so often with the pageantry of 
Sforza and VIscontI, and gazed upon the very windows from 
which had hung the laughing Beatrice and her fair bevy of 
noble maidens. The grand colonnades of the ground story, 
that then surrounded It upon three sides, were now bricked 
up; but the splendid second-story gallery of the front side 
still remained, glistening as of old in its white stone columns 



250 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

and gothic arches; and upon the other sides lingered the 
fine cotta mouldings of the large pointed windows.^ 

Within, the denudation was complete; naught survived 
in these bare halls and dormitories to indicate that wealth 
of furnishing which under the hands of the splendour-loving 
Galeazzo Visconti had made this the most celebrated royal 
residence in Europe. Vainly I tried to imagine in this 
ruined setting the magnificence of his famous shows, or the 
ostentatious weddings of his daughter Violante to the Duke 
of Clarence, son of King Edward III, and of his son Gian 
Galeazzo to Isabella, daughter of King John of France. 
On the former occasion Galeazzo made such " splendid pres- 
ents to more than 200 Englishmen, that he was reckoned to 
have outdone the greatest kings in generosity. At the ban- 
quet Gian Galeazzo, the bride's brother, brought to the 
table with each course fresh gifts. At one time it was a 
matter of sixty most beautiful horses with trappings of silk 
and silver; at another, plate, hawks, hounds, horse-gear, fine 
cuirasses, suits of armour fashioned of wrought steel, helmets 
adorned with crests, surcoats embroidered with pearls, belts, 
precious jewels set in gold, and crimson stuff for making 
raiment. Such was the profusion of this banquet that the 
remnants taken from the table were enough and to spare for 
10,000 men. Petrarch, we may remember, assisted at this 
festival and sat among the princes." ^ 

It was of that occasion that Symonds also well remarked: 

2 This famous palace-fortress, which Petrarch in his letter to Boc- 
caccio called " the most noble among modern works," was certainly 
the foremost of its time in luxury and decoration. Amongst its de- 
signers were probably Bernardo da Venezia, first architect of the 
Certosa, and Bonino da Campione, who fashioned the Area of S. 
Agostino. Amongst its painters, of different epochs, were the re- 
nowned Foppa of Brescia and Bonifazio Bembo of Cremona. 

s Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 251 

" It must have been a strange experience for this brother 
of the Black Prince, leaving London, w^here the streets v^^ere 
still unpaved, the houses thatched, the beds laid on straw, 
and where wine was sold as medicine, to pass into the luxuri- 
ous palaces of Uombardy, walled with marble, and raised 
high above smooth streets of stone." At the second marriage, 
also celebrated in these walls, Galeazzo indulged in a similar 
extravagance, besides paying some 600,000 florins to Isa- 
bella's brother Charles. 

It was equally difficult today to call up any picture of 
these halls and chambers in their greater wealth of decoration 
under the rule of Gian Galeazzo, who during his early years 
of residence here spent vast sums upon the castle. Having 
*' discovered several plots directed against him — he shut 
himself up in his castle of Pavia — doubled his guard, and 
took pains to display his belief that he was surrounded by 
assassins. He affected, at the same time, the highest devo- 
tion: he was always at prayers, a rosary in his hand, sur- 
rounded by monks." * While thus engaged in deceiving his 
uncle Barnabas, and preparing the way for his coup-de-main, 
he spent much time upon his famous collection of saintly 
relics, and his wonderful library, in which Petrarch laboured 
during a long stay to arrange and translate the precious 
manuscripts. During that wretched sack of 1527, when the 
Christian French ruined the castle, and did more damage 
to Pavia than any of the hosts of barbarians, those invaluable 
manuscripts and volumes of ancient lore, which only the 
wealth and power of a Gian Galeazzo could have collected, 
were seized by General Lautrec as a part of his personal 
plunder, and irretrievably dispersed. 

With still more difficulty could I call up those more mar- 
vellous decorations of the height of the Renaissance, laid 

* Sisraondi's " Italian Republics." 



252 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

on by the Sforzas, and amongst which their tragedy was 
staged. " The vaulted halls were painted with the finest 
ultramarine and gold ; and the arms of Sforzas and Viscontis, 
the lilies of France and the red cross of Savoy, appeared on 
the groined roof between planets and stars of raised gold. 
The vast Sala della Folia, where the dukes and their courtiers 
indulged in their favourite pastime of ' pall-mall ' — which 
Burckhardt calls the classic game of the Renaissance, — was 
decorated with frescoes by the best artists of Pavia and 
Cremona, representing fishing and hunting scenes. Por- 
traits of the dukes and duchesses were introduced, together 
with lions and tigers, wild boars, and stags flying before 
the hounds, in the forest shades or on the open moor. The 
ballroom was adorned with historic subjects from the lives 
of the earlier Viscontis. The poet Petrarch was seen, de- 
livering an oration before the duke; and Gian Galeazzo 
was represented, seated at a festive board laden with gold and 
silver plate, entertaining foreign ambassadors, — while 
huntsmen and falconers with horses and dogs awaited his 
pleasure. Of later date were the frescoes in the Duchess* 
room, representing the marriage of Galeazzo Sforza at the 
French court, and the reception of Bona of Savoy at Genoa; 
while the paintings which adorned the chapel had only 
lately been completed by Vincenzo Foppa and Bonifazio da 
Cremona." ^ And of all this glory, sad to say, hardly a single 
vestige now remains, except a frescoed figure of Christ in 
the entrance to the former chapel. 

On returning to the Corso, I noticed the strange monu- 
ment of Garibaldi, which is composed of imitation rocks 
and earth formed by composite, rising to a height of some 
20 feet, with a marble lion at the base, a weeping female 
Italia standing halfway to the summit, and a bronze statue 

^ Julia Cartwright's "Beatrice d'Este." 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 253 

of the hero upon the top. At the western angle of the 
Corso with the Piazza I observed a simple private palace 
which is dear to every Pavian heart, — the Palazzo Cairoli, 
that was for many generations the home of the distinguished 
noble family of that name, and from which its five celebrated 
sons departed to offer their lives for Italian freedom. In 
it, as an inscription records, Garibaldi rested for awhile in 
the stormy days of '48, and spoke therefrom eloquently to 
the citizens. 

As it grew late in the afternoon, the Corso was thronged 
with pedestrians, and antiquated, coroneted vehicles bearing 
the relics of noble families, taking their solemn, daily out- 
ing. These were the modern '' Spagnuolissimi," mentioned 
by Lady Morgan as the " party full of the old Spanish 
prejudices, and devoted to the descendants and representa- 
tives of Charles the Fifth; — all coming forth "per pigliar 
il fresco" (to take the fresh air) as they call swallowing 
dust and perspiring between rows of heated walls, which 
render the street an oven." 

Advancing halfway down the A Ilea j I observed upon its 
right a renaissance palace with a handsome court, adorned 
with interior colonnades and further courts, all prettily 
planted with shrubs and flowers, — the Teatro Guidi ; and 
turning by it to the north, in about 200 paces more I reached 
a sequestered, silent, triangular piazza, bounded by simple 
dwellings, with the famous church of S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro 
upon the east. This Lombard relic of the 1 2th century ^ 

^The original building was of the seventh century; during the 
eighth King Luitprand raised the connecting Benedictine monastery, 
and transferred to the church those bones of St. Augustine which 
drew upon it the attention of the Catholic world. Charlemagne in 
774 instituted an annexed school. — The present fagade dates from 
about 1490. 



254 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

• 
had an unpainted brick fagade, with a portal, window-frames 

and buttresses of grey stone; the portal was quadruply re- 
cessed, with romanesque carvings upon the mouldings, and 
a quaintly sculptured Virgin in the lunette between two 
archaic devotees; the windows were small but double-arched, 
with slender octagonal shafts, upon the second story, and 
single-arched upon the third; while the interesting frieze 
consisted of an arcade upon detached columns, surmounted 
by a cornice of inter-crossed round arches. It was thor- 
oughly dilapidated, and looked its age. Inside, I found a 
dark vaulted nave with red ribs, upheld by stone pillars with 
romanesque caps, flanked by low aisles with little windows 
instead of altars; the choir was considerably elevated, with 
central steps, flanked by other steps descending to the crypt, 
and the aisles continued along beside it, at their own level; 
the front of the crypt, and the frescoes of the terminal apse, 
were portions of the restoration effected about 1880; at 
which time the crypt was excavated from its mass of ac- 
cumulated rubbish and its 24 columns were renewed. In the 
centre of the high choir stood Pavia's great shrine, the cele- 
brated Area of St. Augustine, which is one of the finest 
productions of the early Renaissance. 

It is in the Pisan style, having been executed — as the 
best authorities now agree — by Matteo and Bonino da 
Campione, about 1362-70, under the influence of Giovanni 
Balduccio of that school; the latter, having been called to 
Milan by Azzo Visconti, had there carved the equally famous 
shrine of St. Peter Martyr, in S. Eustorgio, many of whose 
statuettes are imitated in this work. It is entirely of white 
marble, about 10 feet in length, 4 in breadth and 12 in height; 
and consists of a heavy base surmounted by an equally solid 
canopy, upheld by four short pillars on each of the long 
sides, between which reclines the lifesize effigy of the saint, in 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 255 

his episcopal robes and mitre ; round about it stand six quaint 
little gowned figures, about one and one-half feet high, repre- 
senting deacons of the Church, who are holding the edges of 
the sheet in which the body is wound, — and four others 
representing the Fathers of the Church, standing in couples 
at the head and feet. Seen through the small, highly ornate 
arches connecting the pillars, this makes a charming picture; 
whose embellishment is greatly added to by the numerous 
statuettes grouped about the pillars, seven on each of the cor- 
ner supports and four on each of the others, — saints, bishops 
and martyrs, — all executed with a grace and naturalness, a 
realism of drapery, and a varied effectiveness of pose and ex- 
pression, truly wonderful for their period. " The figures, 
which are very Pisan in style, have their surfaces highly pol- 
ished, the borders of their robes carefully elaborated, and the 
pupils of their eyes painted black, according to a common 
custom of the time." 7 

All around the base stand larger figures, — the twelve 
Apostles, in trefoil gothic niches, six per side, surrounded by 
a lavish wealth of foliated designs covering every inch of 
surface, and some fourteen female virtues and martyrs, placed 
at the ends and upon pilasters between the pairs of Apostles. 
The canopy is still more elaborately decorated: each side 
bears six separate tableaux in high relief, the upper three be- 
ing located in the equilateral triangles of the crocketed gables, 
with more statuettes posed between them and at the angles; 
while each end carries three scenes similarly disposed, — two 
below and one above. The lower series represent the chief 
events of the life of the saint, including the institution of his 
order, the translation of his body from Africa, and its trans- 
ference to this church. The upper series display, in a more 
confined manner, a number of his reported miracles. In 

7 Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



256 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

none of the tableaux are the figures so natural or graceful 
as are the statuettes, but they are, considering their epoch, 
remarkably dramatic and full of force and purpose. Most 
striking and beautiful of all, perhaps, is the effect of the 
monument as a whole, with its fine proportions, harmonious 
lines, and extraordinary richness of ornamentation. 

As I gazed upon it, my thoughts roved over the remark- 
able history of the saintly dust reposing within it, both before 
and after death. It once formed that Father of the Church 
of whom Tullock well said, that " no single name has ever 
made such an impression upon Christian thought ; " for 
when, " in the death-agonies of the Western Empire, the 
ashes of paganism showed flickering life, Augustine's hand 
it was which quenched the false fire finally. — Luther and 
Calvin drew largely upon his writing; Jansenius preached 
Augustinianism pur et simple; and if we take away from the 
popular theology of the protestant sects what it has gathered 
from Augustine's teaching, little will remain. — ^Augustine 
occupies a unique position amongst the great ecclesiastics. 
He is at once the most human and the most spiritual of 
them all ; the most daring of offenders, the most heart-stricken 
of penitents." ^ 

Who does not know his life of startling contrasts: its 
youth of wildest dissipation, which gave such sorrow to S. 
Monica, his mother, and was so frankly set forth in his 
" Confessions " ; his conversion and baptism by St. Ambrose 
at Milan; his appointment to the bishopric of Hippo, in 
Africa, followed by so many years of glorious deeds for the 
faith, and so many invaluable treatises upon its tenets. But 
the history of his remains was even more adventurous: first 
translated to the church of S. Saturnino at Cagliari, Sar- 
dinia, 60 years after his death, on account of the Vandal 

8 W. G. Waters' " Five Italian Shrines." 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 257 

conquest of N. Africa; worshipped there for two centuries 
by devout pilgrims from every land; again compelled to 
flight by an infidel invasion, this time of the Saracens, and 
transferred by King Luitprand of the Lombards to Pavia, 
in 710; deposited then in the earlier church of the Bene- 
dictines — subsequently of the Eremetani — upon this same 
spot, where they were placed in a subterranean vault closed 
with masonry, whose location became eventually forgotten; 
vainly searched for in the 14th century, when the Eremetani 
monks had erected this splendid memorial to contain them, 
— after exhausting their own wealth upon it, and inducing 
the magnificent Gian Galeazzo to complete It, by donations 
and by a legacy in his will; the relics finally came to the 
light of modern day in 1695, "when, In digging in the 
sacristy of S. Pietro In Clel d'Oro, the workmen came upon 
a marble tomb, which bore the Inscription * Augustinus,' and 
contained a silver casket In which were found bones and 
ashes." ^ 

They were thus united with the shrine built to hold them ; 
but in a few years commenced a further wandering by going 
to the Duomo of that time. Returned to S. Pietro, then 
transferred to the church of the Jesu, and again to the 
Cathedral about 1800, when the Eremetani were suppressed 
and S. Pietro dismantled, — they finally came to rest here 
in 1902, upon the originally destined spot, the church having 
been restored for their reception. Behind the tomb I saw, set 
in the floor, a piece of the original Roman mosaic pavement 
that floored the cathedral of the saint at Hippo. King 
Luitprand himself is buried In this church, through his ex- 
pressed desire to lie beside the remains of the great Boethlus, 
whose memory he adored ; ^^ but the place of the joint 

s W. G. Waters' " Five Italian Shrines." 

^^ " II avait voulu par son testament etre enterre aux pieds di 



258 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

sepulchre is unmarked, and forgotten, — doubtless due to the 
church's dismantling in 1800. That Boethius was laid to 
rest here is proved by the lines of Dante, in " Paradiso, 
canto X, 124-129, — " Lo corpo ond'ella fu cacciata giace — 
Giuso in Cieldauro," In the large adjacent monastery, now- 
used as a barrack, at an angle of one of the cloisters, rest the 
remains of the Dukes of Suffolk and Lorraine, who were 
slain in the great battle of 1525. 

On coming out, I inspected with interest, from a suitable 
view-point, the exterior of the church's Lombard cupola, 
which is octagonal and completely arcaded, in that roman- 
esque style which was the prototype of the Lombard-renais- 
sance; also the picturesque exterior of the choir, with its 
typical Lombard pilasters and colonnades ; — both of these 
features remaining from the edifice of the 12th century. 
Then returning to the Allea, and crossing it, I struck off 
down a broad street called the Piazza Petrarca, parallel 
with the Corso; whij:h after some 300 yards brought me to 
the huge, brick structure of S. Maria del Carmine, two 
blocks west of the University. This was an imposing gothic 
building of the late trecento, which even the critical Street 
admitted to be "a masterpiece of terracotta and brick archi- 
tecture, — more akin to our own pointed work than any 
other church " ^^ he had seen in Italy. The fagade, of Lom- 
bard pyramidal shape, was adorned by three pointed door- 

Boece, afin, disait-il, qu'en cessant de vivre, 11 ne parut point cesser 
de lui manquer son respect." — Valery. His fine tomb, which Valery 
described, has entirely disappeared during the changes of the ages. 
— It is to this greatest of the Lombard monarchs that the name of 
the church is due: for, after restoring the then edifice from basement 
to roof, he caused the latter to be gorgeously embellished with a 
'* golden frieze." 

11 Street's " Brick and Marble Architecture in the Middle Ages," 
Chap. X. 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 259 

ways, — the central containing a fair cotta relief of the 
Annunciation, — a large and very haiidsorne rose window, 
enriched by cotta mouldings and other decorations, two 
single- and four double-arched gothic windows in charming 
cotta frames, and a cornice of the same material topped by 
pinnacles. The lofty sides and choir were also impressively 
pierced by excellent, large, recessed windows; and upon the 
south side rose the enormous campanile, to a fine belfry of 
triple-pointed arches, and a spire capped with a columned 
lantern. The colour effect of these unusually red bricks and 
the glistening terracotta, joined with the massive dignity of 
the edifice and the grace of its adornments, renders it thor- 
oughly delightful. 

Its interior, which I visited upon a later day, proved 
equally enchanting, — so much so, in fact, that it lingers in 
my memory as one of the most interesting gothic churches of 
the plain. Its individuality was very pronounced. The 
pointed groined nave of spacious dimensions, the numerous 
heavy, gothic piers, connected by narrow, pointed arches, the 
considerably lower aisles, similarly vaulted and flanked by 
a succession of deep, narrow chapels, the longer transepts, 
and square choir, of equal height and breadth with the nave, — 
were all constructed of the same red brick, but in lines and 
masses so effective that for once at least they were fully as 
impressive as any stone. This effect was heightened by the 
omnipresent gloom which shrouded the ponderous pillars, 
deepened to obscurity the chapels, and was traversed by 
glints of oriental hues from the smoky, stained windows. 
No dome lent its lightening influence. And the prevailing 
sense of vast, unaltering age was complemented by the an- 
cient pavement of worn, red tiles. The Italian-gothic plan, 
which reminded me strongly of S. Anastasia at Verona, was 
filled put by four more narrow, deep chapels, in the transept, 



26o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY. 

— two upon each side of the choir ; and there were various 
interesting appurtenances of that style, including a carved 
wooden pulpit upon the right-hand middle pier, a gothic 
wooden ancona^ highly carved and regilded, in the last chapel 
of that side, and a curious but elegant baptismal canopy, 
richly sculptured in terracotta with many reliefs and statu- 
ettes, in the first chapel upon the left. Only two renaissance 
works worthy of notice were to be seen : an early ctnquecento 
painting of the Madonna between two saints, efEectively 
posed and coloured, placed over a little altar against the 
entrance-wall, and illumined by encircling candles; and a 
Swooning of the Madonna by the Leonardesque school, with 

a number of enchanting angels, in the fourth chapel on the 
left.^2 

Upon the eastern side of Piazza Petrarca, and a few paces 
farther north, stands the plain Palazzo Malaspina, a digni- 
fied, fair-sized edifice whose restorations have prevented any 
show of its great age; but as long ago as the 14th century 
it was the seat of the noble family of that name, and only 
in recent times has left their possession, to become the 
quarters of the city's artistic collections, — Pavla's Museo 
Civico. In the latter part of the said century, the then 
Marchese Malaspina had an estimable factor named Fran- 
cesco da Brossano, who occupied a dwelling adjacent to the 
palace upon the east. There he lived with his wife, the 
daughter of Petrarch; and Petrarch himself often stayed 
with them for long visits, preferring the company of his 
dearly beloved child, and that of his little grandson, to the 
royal luxury of the Castello. The house has now disap- 
peared; but, on traversing a lane called VIcolo S. Zeno to 

12 In this church lies buried one of humanity's great benefactors, — 
the monk Bernardino da Feltre, who originated here at Pavia in 149a 
the institution of the Monte di Pietd. 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 261 

the back part of the palace, I came to a little memorial 
indicating its site, — a bust of Petrarch, with a long inscrip- 
tion, upon the outer wall of a rear courtyard. The in- 
scription included the simple but touching Latin epitaph 
which was composed by the sorrowing poet when his adored 
grandson died. 

Upon the other side of the gateway in this wall, I saw 
another bust and epigraph, to the martyred Boethius; for 
this was the spot, according to the unchanging tradition, 
upon which stood his prison-tower. The subscription, by the 
Abbe Morcelli, reminded me that this was holy ground, which 
had witnessed such undeserved sufferings, and seen them pour 
forth the pious wisdom of the " De Consolatione Philoso- 
phiae." 

Besides the Museo, which, according to my wont, I left 
for inspection at the end of my visit, there was one more 
place of interest in this quarter of the city, — the northwestern 
ramparts, reached at the end of the Allea di Piazza Castello. 
I found a pleasure in pacing their lofty promenade toward 
sunset, under the shade of their arching foliage, amid a silence 
broken only by an occasional passer-by; while the golden 
radiance of the western sky illumined the far-spread plain 
with a sheen of glory which seemed to revivify its dramatic 
scenes of the tremendous past, throwing a glistening mantle 
over the railroad yards and factories of the modern suburb, 
from which resounded the flashing arms of the countless hosts 
of bygone assailants, — from Alboin with his Lombards to 
Francis with his doomed array.^^ 

One day I devoted to the remaining objects of interest 

13 These ponderous bastions remain from the ence'inture of 1547, 
built by Fr. Gonzales as governor for Charles V. — In the preceding 
centuries, of Pavia as a stronghold, there were three complete cir- 
cuits of walls, one within another. 



262 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

in the northeastern quarter. Following the narrow street 
running eastward from the Corso along the northern side of 
the University, it terminated after four blocks in a small 
piazza fronted by the large church of the Franciscans, looking 
westward. Its long, low, dark Interior, with huge stuccoed 
columns, was entirely renovated and of no special merit; 
but the early fagade was most exceptional, its body being 
of stucco painted a tessellated red and white design, with 
red brick buttresses tipped by quaint gothic pinnacles; the 
four little second-story windows, grouped together In the 
centre, were recessed with red and white mouldings; and 
the single large upper window was a beautiful gothic work, 
with three pointed arches divided by marble mulllons, and 
enclosed in a frame of delicately wrought terracotta. This 
front was a production of the 13th century, recently restored 
without variation. 

One block behind It there opened a square almost as ex- 
tensive as the Piazza Grande, holding In Its centre a heroic 
bronze statue of Pope Pius V, bearded, and draped In a 
Bernlniesque manner. His hand Is extended In blessing to- 
ward a large palace upon his right, the Colleglo Ghlslleri, 
which he founded In 1569. This semlnarlal attachment of 
the University, looking northward from the square's south- 
eastern angle, has a plain stuccoed fagade, with a stately 
renaissance portal framed by columns. Two blocks directly 
south of San Francesco I found the curious little church of 
S. Maria di Canepanova, designed by Bramante. Its fagade, 
with the master's usual Indifference, consisted only of rough 
brickwork ; but the Interior was In his customary classic form 
of a domed octagon, adorned by an arcaded gallery In the 
second story, consisting of double arches on each side, 
separated by corlnthlan half-columns. The dome was 
prettily proportioned and designed, and recently painted in 



PA VIA THE PIOUS 263 

a bluish grey ground with regular devices. Upon the 
right and left were shallow recesses devoted to altars; the 
choir and entrance occupied deeper archways; and each 
corner was adorned with a couple of mediocre paintings. 
The building's grace and smallness combined to give it a sort 
of cameo-like charm. Here I was amused and repelled by an 
assistant sacristan to whom the palm for idiocy must cer- 
tainly be awarded. His unremitting attentions, composed 
of chucklings, snortings, gurglings, shakings, and a meaning- 
less jargon of his own, prevented any proper appreciation of 
the building. 

A block to the east of this rises the large Palazzo Munic- 
ipale, on the northern side of the piazza terminating Via 
Mazzini. When I have said, after due reflection, that it is 
the most extremely rococo structure I ever saw, I can give 
no stronger idea of its horrible barbarities of mass and detail. 
It is of course of stucco, painted in imitation of stone around 
the doorways and windows, with two real stone columns 
framing each portal; the window-cornices and balconies are 
masses of flying, twisted, involved lines, no line nor curve 
being held for a foot's distance. It is ugly to the point of 
interest. But it is spacious, and affords the admiring Pavesi 
plenty of room for their city government. On one side the 
piazza was now being enlarged by the demolishing of some 
very old building, to make space for lawns and flowerbeds. — 
Several blocks to the northeast here, against the city wall on 
this side, lie the botanical gardens attached to the University, 
already mentioned. And several blocks to the south, seen 
over the housetops from the elevated ground on which the 
Municipio is perched, rise the two or three surviving mediae- 
val house-towers, of the celebrated hundred which gave their 
name formerly to the town. Their dark, quadrangular, 
brick walls soar with hardly an opening far into the blue sky, 



264 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

to broken, crumbling summits, deprived of the battlements 
from which the mediaevals waged their fratricidal city strife.^* 

Their attached dwellings, remnants of noble houses, — as 
I found later on walking to their feet, — are likewise crum- 
bling, dingy, and more or less abandoned. Many of these 
dusky side-streets are lined throughout by ancient buildings 
of this character, still, as in Lady Morgan's time, " sad, 
desolate and silent ; some terminate in piazzas, opening before 
vast and cumbrous palaces, with windows half-sashed, doors 
hanging from their hinges, balconies mouldering over beauti- 
ful but fallen porticoes, and the grass shooting up everywhere 
between the pavements." 

In this same southeastern quarter there remained to be in- 
spected that famous edifice, at once the most ancient and most 
perfect of all Lombard buildings, which, according to Lord 
Lindsay, " existed as a sanctuary as early as 66 1, — the church 
of S. Michele Magglore, — when Unulfus took sanctuary 
in it to escape the vengeance of King Grimoaldus " ; ^^ 
though the present structure is of the lOth century. It is 
located a couple of blocks east of the main thoroughfare, and 
one block south of Corso Garibaldi, facing westward upon a 
small piazza of the same name. On starting out one morn- 
ing to visit it, however, I first stopped for a few minutes to 
examine the so-called Mercato Coperto, or covered market, 
which adjoins the hotel upon the south, extending through 
from Corso Vittorlo Emanuele to the sequestered little Piazza 
del Popolo. It was a typically handsome, modern, Italian 
arcade, glass-roofed, with a central, domed rotunda of four 
stories; its stucco fagade was in quiet renaissance lines, Its 

1* From iicx) to 1300 was the chief era of tower-building, — which 
was done really more for. show than for use; they reached, says Bre- 
ventano, to the number of 160. 

15 Lord Lindsay's *' Christian Art," Vol. L 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 265 

hall decorated with many fine granite columns, upon the walls 
and about the doorways ; and the stately rotunda was beauti- 
fied by an upper gallery, surmounted by a circle of three- 
quarter colum.ns. Here the central post-office was located. 
Occupying the little rear piazza, and framed in the long 
vista of the arcade, I found Pavia's monument to the heroic 
Cairoli. 

This was a splendid masterpiece of modern Italian sculp- 
ture (1900), and the artist, Enrico Cassi, had fully taken 
advantage of his inspiring subject, to produce a group teeming 
with pathos and lofty patriotism. Upon a heavy granite 
pedestal, and before an obelisk of the same stone rising from 
its back, stood that wonderful woman, Adelaide, daughter of 
Count and Minister Benedetto Bono, and mother of the 
Cairoli, bestowing a battleflag upon her five departing sons, 
— four of them leaving her forever, to give their lives for 
Italy. The llfesize bronze figures were thrilling in their 
realism of form and garb, and in the patriotic self-devotion 
that radiated from every line of the eager faces and every 
gesture of the youthful limbs. In deeper dramatic contrast 
stood the bereaved widow, in her severe mourning dress, as 
straight as any warrior, the fine eyes of her noble countenance 
plainly glowing with fervour and pride, while yet the lines 
of the cheeks betrayed the heart-rending emotions of the for- 
saken mother. Well indeed could she say, — " More I give 
to my country than my own heart's blood : I give that of my 
children ! " And well say the Italians, that she died four 
times, to free her fatherland. Another monument records 
her bravery and sacrifice at Groppello, where she resided. 
And all travellers must remember that touching memorial 
in the Pincian gardens of Rome, showing two young soldiers 
making their last stand, one of them stretched upon the 
ground: those were two of the brothers, who perished in 



266 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Garibaldi's attacks upon the Eternal City. Of the others, 
one fell at Varese, and the fourth in Sicily, during that 
memorable expedition, which Adelaide had assisted in send- 
ing off from Genoa. The fifth, Benedetto, though wounded 
at Catalafimi in the ranks of the Thousand, lived to serve 
United Italy as one of her greatest statesmen, and to save 
King Humbert's life, in '78, when attacked by Passanante. — 
Now Adelaide and her five sons sleep together, in a chapel 
that has been made a national monument. 

" In the name of Italy, 
Meantime her patriot dead have benison. 
They only have done well; and what they did, 
Being perfect, it shall triumph. 
Let them slumber." ^^ 

Taking my way out the Corso Garibaldi, whose straight- 
ness and larger width make it comparatively imposing, and 
turning to the right, I soon arrived before the loth century 
temple of the Lombards, which at once held me in delighted 
wonder. It was far from beautiful, in its stern dark walls 
and irregular lines, whose evenly fitted marble blocks had 
been turned by the ages to the colour of clay; but the lofty 
massiveness of the grim fagade, lightened hardly at all by the 
little windows, impressed me with a sense of power and 
majesty; to which were added strange feelings of savage 
wildness and ferocity, by the extensive bands of weird and 
uncouth carvings that stretched from angle to angle, in 
contrast to the skilfulness of the masonry, which the builders 
had learned from the Roman structures. It was indeed 
a thesaurus of the artistic accomplishments, — an exponent 
of the semicivilised traits and practices, — of that strange race 
of vanished conquerors. 

16 Mrs. Browning's " Casa Guidi Windows," 




THE MONUMENT OF GIAN GALEAZZO VISCONTI. 
THE CERTOSA DI PAVIA 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 267 

The pyramidal front was taller than usual at the shoul- 
ders, and its broad gable was remarkably flat; beneath it ran 
an arcaded sloping cornice of extraordinary dimensions, deeply 
recessed in the heavy wall, with its round arches supported by 
slender marble shafts, whose crude capitals were surmounted 
by distorted beasts, and whose bases rested upon successive 
steps. Four Imitation-buttresses (two of them at the build- 
ing's corners) divided the fagade into three unequal com- 
partments, the central being wider; they were formed like 
clustered columns, of even size to the top; or rather, each 
was composed of a half-column flanked by three receding 
mouldings on each side, alternately round and square; the 
two middle buttresses being cut to a third and a half their 
height with vertical, spiral and circular grooves, while the 
outer ones seemed still more unfinished, with unevenly spaced 
patches of zigzags. A fine rounded portal opened in each 
of these compartments, the middle one considerably taller; 
each was recessed five-fold, and sculptured all over Its mould- 
ings and outer face with a wonderful display of Lombard 
reliefs, infinitely varied, — oriental-looking devices, grotesque 
human figures, and beasts real and fanciful, Interwoven 
with great fertility and ingenuity. In each of the lunettes 
stood a solitary figure in high relief, with a saintly halo, and 
upon the summit of the arch, another and larger statue. 

Over the main portal opened three tiers of small windows, 
grouped closely In the centre of the f agade, three openings in 
each tier ; the lowest consisted of double-arches, once recessed, 
divided by slender octagonal shafts of marble; the next, of 
larger, single arches, very deeply recessed ; and the topmost, 
of a Greek cross flanked by recessed circles. Over each of 
the side portals opened but a solitary aperture, level with and 
similar to the lowest row in the middle. These few windows, 
not ungraceful in themselves, served to emphasise the stern 



268 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ponderosity of the whole front. Between those of the lowest 
tier, and equidistant below, as far down as the mid-height of 
the doorways, extended the successive bands of uncouth re- 
liefs, which constituted the main ornamentation and interest 
of the construction. 

In these unparalleled carvings are set forth the full story 
of Lombard beliefs and dark superstitions, their active out- 
door life of hunting and warfare, their ignorance and mental 
limitations, their cruelty and savage practices. The deso- 
late and wooded wilderness to which the Lombardy of their 
time had retroceded. Is also fairly Indicated. The archaic 
human figures, chain-clad or garbed in loose, rough clothes 
with steeple-hats, like those on the doors of S. Zeno at 
Verona, are engaged upon horseback In the chase or in com- 
bat, — are riding and playing with beasts of every description, 
returning from expeditions with carcasses, strings of fish, or 
spoliations, and employed in shoeing horses, making arms, 
and other occupations attendant upon such an outdoor life. 
Inter-connected throughout are the full category of weird 
creatures that peopled their barbaric imaginations, — " drag- 
ons, griffins, eagles, snakes, sphynxes, centaurs — the whole 
mythological menagerie which our ancestors brought with 
them from their native Iran, — Interspersed with warriors, 
minstrels, and even tumblers; In short, the strong Impress 
everywhere meets you of a wild and bold equestrian nation, 
glorying In war, delighting in horses and the chase, falconry, 
music and gymnastics, — credulous, too, of old wives' stories, 
and tenacious of ^ — the marvellous and the strange." ^'' 
Here we see indisputably how " the Longobardi seem to have 
been stamped with nature's own mark of physiological su- 
periority. They brought with them — a fierce but generous 
courage, and a powerful and dominant instinct of liberty, 

17 Lord Lindsay's " Christian Art." 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 269 

which has been found working at intervals through all the 
successive stages of Italy's woeful existence. It was that 
spirit which so early resisted the prescriptions of feudality, , 
and gave the first shock to foreign influence under the Ger- 
man emperors. It was that spirit which enfranchised north- 
ern Italy, founded her glorious republics, and cemented that 
holy alliance of free citizens, the League of Lombardy ! " ^^ 

In the southern wallof the edifice there opened a doorway 
even more remarkable than those in front, recessed seven-fold, 
and likewise profusely sculptured, — in fact, the most ornate 
Lombard-romanesque portal that I had ever seen. From the 
street upon this side the characteristic cupola was visible, 
above the crossing, its octagonal drum surrounded as usual 
by airy colonnades. Entering by the front, I found that 
" the interior of this temple is equally gloomy, and almost 
as barbarous as the exterior." — " The dark, dank entrance, 
or portico, is painted in fresco, in forms so terrible as to add 
to its awful gloom. Here are the large, grinning, staring 
figures of doctors, saints, and Madonnas, which were well 
fitted to be the idols of the dark, unsettled faith of the times, 
in which not one ray of the light of Christianity seems to 
have penetrated, though every crime was sacrilegiously com- 
mitted in its hallowed name. — The frescoes are by Andrino 
d'Edesia, a contemporary of Giotto. — There is one spot curi- 
ously paved with ancient mosaic, where, it is said, the Lom- 
bard kings were crowned." ^^^ 

I saw a broad, high-vaulted nave, sustained on each side by 
four heavy piers, faced with half-columns, which were tipped 
with Lombard capitals of unsurpassable grotesqueness, — their 
forms of unspeakable, mouthing beasts being involved with 
deformed, grinning " figures, — difEering so much from the 

18 Lady Morgan's "Italy." 
18a Idem, 



270 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

human figure as to appear belonging to another species." ^^ 
Above the broad, rounded side-arches extended another series, 
of equal width, forming a triforium gallery, without any 
clerestory. Curious premonitions of the gothic occurred in 
the diagonal groining of the roof, and the subdivided bays 
of the low aisles; those upon the right side being incongru- 
ously frescoed with cinquecento designs and panelled tab- 
leaux. The side-chapels occupied shallow recesses, separated 
by relieved columns bearing more of the demoniac capitals. 
The dim light entered through the picturesque stained glass 
of the front windows, the little circular windows of the 
chapels, the octagonal arcade below the dome, and a solitary, 
small rose window of blue glass which cast an unearthly 
eflFulgence from the deep apse of the elevated choir. The 
latter was approached by central steps, flanked by side steps 
descending to the crypt; the wide transept was vaulted in 
romanesque fashion, with the supporting arches springing 
from lofty half-columns against the walls. In these " main 
arches we have the work of an age, of which in northern 
countries we have nothing but a few uncertain fragments." "^^ 
The first chapel to right contained a pleasing surprise, — a 
beautiful painting of the Madonna and S. Siro, by Massacra 
of Pavia, simple in form but lovely under close inspection. 
The end recess of the right transept held a handsome little 
gilded reredos of the cinquecento, and its chapel beside the 
choir was adorned with a wooden crucifix as old as the gth 
or lOth century. Opposite this chapel, high upon the wall, 
hung another charming canvas of the Madonna and saints, by 
an unknown Renaissance hand. Facing the crypt were a 
number of Lombard columns from the earlier church, of the 
6th or 7th century; and the rows of columns within it are 

19 Lanzi's " History of Art," Vol. II. 

20 Freeman's '* Historical and Architectural Sketches." 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 271 

said to date mostly from the same period, — as well as the 
two entrance archways, — being entirely covered, upon shafts, 
capitals, frieze and arches, with reliefs of the most original 
and amusing character. Upon its left wall I observed a 
handsome cinquecento statuette of the Madonna and Child; 
and upon an adjacent capital, several carved beasts that 
were perfectly Assyrian in design, — a fact noted several 
times elsewhere, and which may be taken to indicate the near 
Asiatic descent of the Lombards. Against its front wall 
stood the exquisite tomb of Martino Salimbene, executed by 
Amadeo in 1491 ; whose chief feature was a lovely relief of 
the Madonna with an adoring monk. 

The left transept contained some very fine Lombard carv^ 
mgs, including a pair of beautiful windows recessed from 
within, and an elaborately adorned recess holding a modern 
baptismal font in imitation of the same style. At the front 
of the high choir I found imbedded in its pavement the inter- 
esting fragments of the mosaic flooring, transferred from the 
earlier edifice, with crude designs of animals in black and 
white and red — showing their following of the Roman art, 
— upon which the royal Lombard coronations once took 
place.^^ This was indeed a close touch with those far-ofiE 
barbaric times. And coming slightly nearer, — upon this 
same spot the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, on Easter day, 
1 155, received upon his brow the Iron Crown of Lombardy: 
" assembling round him all the rulers of Lombardy, the 
bishops and nobles of Italy, — after the elevation of the mass 

21 After the long succession of Lombard kings, Charlemagne him- 
self received the Iron Crown upon this circle of mosaic pavement; 
and, during the succeeding 300 years, a number of strange and half- 
forgotten rulers, — such as Berengarius of FriuH in 888, Arduino of 
Ivrea in 1002, and Arrigo II" of Germany in 1004. Some of them 
indeed 'might be called mere adventurers, who thought that the 
touch of the revered circlet would sanctify thsir aspirations. 



272 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

he was crowned, with Beatrice Augusta, with the crown 
which 3 years before he had refused, swearing that it should 
not be placed on his head until he had taken the city of 
Milan." ^2 What a spectacle must that have been, in all 
the armed and multi-coloured pomp of the savage Middle 
Age! It seemed incredible that these very stones had wit- 
nessed it. 

In the half-dome of the apse, finally, glowed a splendidly 
preserved fresco of the trecento, representing Christ crowning 
the Madonna, amidst a choir of truly charming angels. 
This extraordinary relic is the surviving masterpiece of that 
same Andrino d'Edesia; who also painted, with his scholars, 
the figures that have left but faint traces of their quondam 
glory upon the piers of the nave. He " flourished at the 
period of Petrarch and Giotto — and is said to belong to 
Pavia; though his name — leads us to conjecture that it must 
have been of Greek origin." ^^ 

In this earliest of remaining Lombard churches, which had 
been rebuilt on its original plan of the 6th century, I beheld 
most clearly the changes which the race had made in the first 
ecclesiastical architecture of the Christians. That had been, 
very naturally, naught but an adaptation of the Roman basil- 
ica, — as we still see in the earliest churches at Rome, or in 
S. Ambrogio at Milan. Here I saw the full revolution ac- 
complished by the Lombards: the abolition of the temple 
fore-court ; the narthex, or ancient portico, at first swept away 
entirely, as here, and later resumed only as an ornate porch 
above the entrance; the adoption of the aspiring, gabled fa- 
cade, sometimes with triple pediments, corresponding to the 
three portals and indicating the Trinity ; its novel decorations, 
consisting of the colonnaded galleries and belts of sculptured 

22 E. Seeley's " Artists of the Renaissance." 

23 Lanzi's " History of Art," Vol. I. 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 273 

reliefs, often continued along the sides and apse, — and some- 
times the covering of the whole front with colonnades, tier 
upon tier, as in the celebrated S. Maria della Pieve of 
Arezzo; the alteration of the basilica-form to a Latin cross, 
the symbol of the faith; the substitution for timbers of a 
stone-vaulted roof, whose weight was sustained by clustering 
the columns into massive piers; the adoption of arcaded tri- 
forium-galleries along the loftier nave, — originally conceived 
in the East for the isolation of the women ; the raising of the 
tribune, the ancient cella^ and its termination by an abis 
oriently directed, so as to afford a loftier and longer crypt, 
which was still adorned with rows of columns; the lighting 
of this greater edifice by windows in the apse and clerestory ; 
and the capping of it by a majestic octagonal dome, decorated 
within and without by airy colonnades. The main parts of 
this new design the Lombards brought with them from the 
territory of Byzantium; the amplifications, natural and grad- 
ual, they developed here in Italy ; and we do not often enough 
stop to remember this great debt that we owe them for the 
beautiful and significant forms of our church architecture. 
We owe to them also the bell-tower, or steeple, which they 
developed at first as a separate but adjacent structure; im- 
porting into Italy from the Orient the use of bells, some time 
during the 8th century. 

This neighbourhood was the centre of importance In Lom- 
bard days; the royal palace, which Theodoric first raised and 
occupied, lay immediately south of S. Michele, upon the 
bank of the Ticino; and the street next upon the west, lead- 
ing riverward, still bears the name accordingly given it at 
that epoch, — " Via della Rocchetta," or Street of the Castle. 
This would suffice to mark the spot alone ; but on proceeding 
directly south from the Piazza of S. Michele, and through a 
tunnel-like archway, I reached in a few paces the remains of 



274 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

a huge brick structure near the stream, of the Lombard era, 
which is therefore probably a last remnant of the royal edifice ; 
in the subsequent Middle Ages it was made, and still is, a 
part of the city enceinture, — connected with the adjacent 
gateway which is called " Porta Salara." The palace was 
still standing as late as the tenth century; when it was 
burned in a general conflagration started by the Ger- 
man troops of Emperor Adalbert, during his visit of 
924.2* 

With the attainment of the river-bank a splendid prospect 
burst upon my eyes: this was the noble stream itself, some 
200 yards wide, shining gloriously in the dazzling sun, sweep- 
ing on with resistless, impetuous current, and curving far 
away to the southeast. The opposite shore was lined with 
the straggling houses of the suburb, bounded on each hand 
by a flat, marshy country largely overgrown with wood, 
whose reed-beds in the west extended well into the water. 
Along both banks stretched the laundry of the city, — scores 
of bright-hued women kneeling over the edges of the cur- 
rent, acres of white linen spread to dry upon the stones, a 
forest of variegated garments swinging from sticks and lines. 
But the chief object in the landscape was the grand old bridge, 
now close upon my right, striding majestically across the 
stream on eight or nine splendid, white stone arches of enor- 
mous size, springing from massive piers of the same material ; 
— that bridge which has been truly called " one of the most 
curious objects in Italy, and one of the most striking monu- 
ments of the energy and activity of the Italians of the Mid- 
dle Age.*' 

Though built as long ago as 1350, it looked still in perfect 
condition, — except perhaps for the decaying wooden roof, 
which was tiled without, and supported by two long gleaming 

24 See Ricci's " Storia dell' Archltettura," Vol. I. 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 275 

colonnades of quadrangular granite shafts, tapering toward 
the top and faced within by pilasters. At the middle, and 
highest point, rose Its picturesque two-storied guard-house, 
arching the passage. But the whole structure, set in such a 
brilliant scene, beside the ancient, towered city, was more pic- 
turesque than pen can tell.^^ Across it poured, In each direc- 
tion, a steady procession of townsfolk and peasantry, the latter 
in large part driving mules or oxen, or riding diminutive don- 
keys, — their two-wheeled carts bound cityward being laden 
with garden produce or piles of sawed wood. These one 
and all paid dazio duty under the tall gateway at the bridge's 
hither end, an ornamental construction of the government of 
Napoleon. And I reflected how much more interesting must 
have been the scene in that epoch, when the Ponte was still 
crowded with Its innumerable little mediaeval " oratories, and 
temporary chapels, mostly consecrated to the Virgin, but 
raised equally for exciting piety or extorting charity; when 
each shrine was guarded by a very noisy solicitor in a pil- 
grim's habit, demanding carita In the name of the Madonna, 
and of all the saints who had taken the bridge under their 
special protection." 

Shortly to the northwest of this spot there stands. In a 
little back street, another old church of the Lombard era, 
S. Teodoro, which once enjoyed some fame for Its character- 
istic architecture and sculpture, but has in modern times been 
so altered that It no longer merits notice. Scores of the 
religious edifices with which Pavia was filled in mediaeval 
times, have entirely disappeared; of the forty-six wealthy 

25 Petrarch spoke of It admiringly. — Sen., V. i. — The present 
colonnaded roof dates from 1583. Upon the farther bank a pleasant 
"walk runs along the river, commanding interesting views of the city; 
and one may take an even pleasanter boat-ride, for i^ francs per 
hour. 



276 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

convents which remained in .habitation as late as the reign 
of Emperor Joseph II, not one exists today. 

I had now finished my visit to Pavia, proper, with 
the exception of several minor churches,^® and the 
Museo, — to which I proceeded to devote a full afternoon, 
finding amongst its collection of nearly 500 paintings quite 
a number of value; these were mostly the works of which 
the churches had been so freely stripped, and which I had 
missed in their desolate interiors. 

The ground floor of Palazzo Malaspina contained only 
relics of the Risorgimento. From its court I mounted to a 
narrow upper hall with insignificant canvases, labelled Room 
I, which opened Into a large, central, front chamber, — num- 
bered II ; here there was an extensive assortment of paintings, 
of many schools, but mostly mediocre and poor in quality. 
Chief amongst the better class were a fine specimen of 
Liberale of Verona, — the Madonna standing In adoration be- 
fore her Child, clad in a lustrous white robe spangled with 
golden stars, — and a panel of the Madonna with the two 
sacred infants, before a quaint background (52), which I 
judged to be a valuable specimen of the rare Buonfigli of 
Perugia. Upon the right here opened the third room, equally 
large and well filled, but distinguished by more pictures of the 
first order. Of the Venetian school, there were — a panel of 
Luigi Vivarini, showing Sts. Francis and John the Baptist, 

26 Among these minor churches I found two only worth noting: 
that of SS. Primo e Feliciano, for its ancient ruinous fagade of the 
i2th century, and its ancona of 1498 by Agostino da Vaprio, — a 
Madonna with two saints, — considered one of the best surviving 
pictures of the Pavesan school of the quattrocento ; and the edifice of 
S. Eusebio, for its remarkable crypt of the first half of the seventh 
century, with its curious ribbed vaulting, and its archaic capitals of 
the columns, which are judged to be the most ancient example of the 
" cubic " capitals of the pre-Lombard style. 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 277 

walking together; a characteristic and very lovely Madonna 
and Child by Giov. Bellini (signed), and a large Annuncia- 
tion in the peculiar chiaros'curo of Palma Giovane (30). Of 
the Paduan school of Squarcione was an interesting Madonna 
with two Saints Anthony, in a bower of greenery (54) ; of 
the Veronese school, a handsome Marriage of St. Catherine, 
with St. Francis in rear and a couple of little angels over- 
head, by Paolo Farinata; of the Milanese, a small but 
glorious fresco by Bern. Luini, displaying the half-figure of 
a lady, and several fine works of unknown authorship, in- 
cluding a very Leonardesque Holy Family (73) ; of the 
Florentine, — a Madonna with two Infants, half-figures, by 
Fra Bartolomeo ; of the Vercelll, — a charming example of 
Girolamo Giovenone, the four Doctors of the Church, de- 
picted as stately, full-length figures, very handsome and life- 
like ; and there were several, other, anonymous works of much 
merit, including a Madonna with two enchanting angels 
(43) and a pleasing Adoration of the Magi, done in fresco, 
in a bright tone and gay colours (133). The specimen of 
Correggio here was damaged beyond attractiveness or value. 

The fourth room, on the south side of No. H, proved to 
contain a fair collection of engravings, embroideries, and 
other objets d'art; Including the original plan for the fagade 
of the Duomo, and a very remarkable piece of broidery de- 
picting the chase of a stag, which was the gift of the late 
Emperor of Austria. — Oa departing I observed in the walls 
of the courtyard three beautiful terracotta windows, — one 
frame being delightfully carved Into a string of putti; while 
the centre held a classic marble statue of Apollo. And in 
wending my way back to the inn I discovered some further 
charming cotta work, upon the windows and cornices of a 
handsome old palace on the south side of Corso Cavour. 

Before departing, finally, there were two interesting old 



278 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

churches to be visited without the city, upon the highway 
leading northwestward up the Ticino, — S. Salvatore and S. 
Lanfranco (the latter originally named S. Sepolcro), situ- 
ated respectively about one-half mile and one mile beyond 
the Porta Cavour. Both were edifices of the Lombard 
period, — S. Salvatore having been erected by King Aribert 
in the 7th century, S. Lanfranco by the imperialists of the 
nth century; but the latter looks much the older, because 
it has conserved its type, while the former was reconstructed 
in the quattrocento. The latter, too, besides its characteristic 
forms and carvings, is connected with a small cloister deco- 
rated with beautiful quattrocento terracotta sculptures, in the 
manner of Amadeo, and is adorned with the second great 
shrine of Pavia, — the Area of S. Lanfranco. This saint was 
not^ as is often asserted, the renowned monk of Pavia in the 
nth century, who, celebrated in Normandy for his vast 
clerical learning, became the adviser of William the Con- 
queror, and was by him elevated to be the first Norman 
Archbishop of Canterbury; this was that Lanfranco Beccari 
who became Bishop of Pavia in 11 80, and closed his beneficent 
life at this church and monastery of S. Sepolcro, since named 
after him. 

The area is one of the greatest and the latest works of 
Amadeo, executed in 1498. It rises to a height of nearly 30 
feet, sustained upon six slender corinthian columns, with 
fanciful, bulging, vase-like pedestals, which are mounted upon 
smaller, cubical plinths, — a strange combination. The sar- 
cophagus is plain in form, but decorated with the usual three 
reliefs on each side and one upon each end, representing 
scenes from the bishop's life; these are designed with admira- 
ble perspectives and landscape-backgrounds, and their multi- 
tude of delightful little figures, typically slender and grace- 
ful, are arranged in most effective, dramatic groupings, while 



PAVIA THE PIOUS 279 

yet reflecting intense devotional feeling. Six similar reliefs 
adorn a smaller cube, raised above the sarcophagus on frail 
supports, and capped by an airy canopy. It is an example of 
the master's very best w^ork, and exceedingly enjoyable.^^ 

The other suburban church, S. Salvatore, is interesting 
both for its artistic decorations and its historical associations. 
King Aribert, w^ho raised the edifice, v^as buried there soon 
after its construction, in 661 ; and it subsequently gave 
sepulture to other Lombard monarchs. In 999, as evidenced 
by a tablet still to be seen in the nave, occurred the burial of 
the beautiful Queen Adelaide, the wadow both of King Lo- 
thaire and also of Otto the Great, the first of the conquering 
German emperors. Berengarius II, it v^rill be remembered, 
after slaying treacherously by poison her first husband and 
succeeding to his throne of Lombardy, tried in vain to force 
her into a marriage v^ith his son Adalbert; and after the 
failure of his visiles, conveyed her by force to a prison-tow^er 
beside the Lake of Garda. Thence she v^^as later rescued 
by a pitying priest. Otto of Germany seized the tale of her 
v^oes as a convenient excuse for invading Lombardy w^ith a 
mighty host, driving Berengarius from his seat, and having 
himself crowned in his stead at Pavia. Conquered then him- 
self, by Adelaide's charms, he married her at Pavia in 951, 
and carried her back v^^ith him to Germany. In 988 she 
returned to Pavia, to assume the regency for Otto III, her 
second husband's youthful nephew; and then it was that she 
erected, annexed to this church, the spacious monastery of the 
Benedictines, after having enlarged the sacred edifice itself. 
In the later quattrocento the buildings were restored and re- 
decorated; to which period are due most of the frescoes, the 

27 " These bassorilievt " — wrote the critic, Meyer, — " are the most 
beautiful and accurate that Amadeo ever sculped " ; and I am in- 
clined to agree with him in this judgment. 



28o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

handsome choir-stalls, and the sculptures of the high-altar 
and the cloisters, — the last being now converted to a bar- 
rack. 

The high-renaissance adornments of the church, though 
incongruous with the gothic construction, render it a brilliant 
and somewhat imposing edifice; the side-walls and pillars, 
the frieze and roof, being one rich mass of fanciful stucco- 
work, gilding and afffeschi, — on the unmistakable lines of 
the Cremona school. The first chapel on the left contains 
those frescoes the most interesting and valuable, — a fine, 
well preserved series by Andrino d'EdesIa, depicting scenes 
from the life of S. Majolo, Abbate: perhaps the best remain- 
ing example of that artist's work, and of the Pavesan school 
of the early Renaissance. 



CHAPTER IX 

LODI AND CREMA 

"Italia! O Italia! thou who hast 
The fatal gift of beauty, which became 
A funeral dower of present woes and past, 
On thy sweet brow is sorrow ploughed by shame, 
And annals graved in characters of flame." 

Lord Byron. 

Twenty miles southeast of Milan, and thirty miles south 
of Bergamo, upon the eastern border of the Milanese, the 
Adda, stands the little city of Lodi, with 27,ocxD inhabitants; 
renowned amongst Italians for its prominent imperialistic 
part in their history of the Middle Ages, and amongst for- 
eigners chiefly for the critical capture of its bridge in 1796, 
by the great Napoleon. Important, however, as this exploit 
was to the Conqueror's successes, it stands insignificant com- 
pared with Lodi's centuries of troublous and varied history. 

About 100 years before Christ, Pompeius Strabo, the father 
of Pompey the Great, planted a Roman colony here, five 
miles to the west of the river and the present town, — a typi- 
cal incident in the long, slow process of Latinization of 
Cisalpine Gaul, and but one of the long chain of military 
settlements designed to hold in check the Celtic Insubres, 
who then occupied the district of the Milanese. It was 
called after its founder, Laus Pompeia, the first word of 
which — from the Latin dative, Laudi, — in the course of a 
thousand years became corrupted to Lodi. Situated in the 
midst of the most fertile section of that luxuriant plain, the 
town survived the fall of the Western Empire^ escaped de- 

281 



282 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

struction at the hands of the successive barbaric invaders, — 
perhaps from its then insignificance — and with the v^ane of 
Frankish power became an independent republic; this waxed 
mightily from the 9th to the 12th century, into a large 
and powerful city that was, next to Pavia, the most de- 
termined upholder of the Ghibelline cause. Ever foremost 
in any effort to advance imperialistic ideas or welfare, it 
was Pavia's first lieutenant in the company of Ghibelline 
towns; and the forces which it put into the field in the 
nth and 12th centuries, the undertakings which it ac- 
complished, prove it to have been a city of the first rank, 
much larger than at present. It was visited and fa- 
voured by successive emperors, up to and including Frederick 
Barbarossa, who with good reason esteemed the people of 
Lodi as one of his most valuable and faithful allies. 

The propinquity of Milan, in those days the head of the 
Guelf party, naturally brought it into frequent collision with 
the imperialistic ideas of Lodi ; and the final result was a dis- 
aster to the latter, similar to that which overwhelmed Civita 
Castellana at the hands of the Romans, centuries before. 
Milan conquered the ancient city, and razed it to the ground, 
compelling its inhabitants to seek shelter in the adjacent vil- 
lages; thus paving the way for the very same calamity to 
herself, which Barbarossa soon inflicted. This happened 
shortly before the latter's first descent into Italy, in 1154; 
and was one of the first grievances brought to him at the diet 
of Roncaglia, by the deputies of the ruined town. Frederick 
thereupon " proposed — to punish in particular the Milanese 
for their arrogance, — and to oblige Milan to render to the 
towns of Lodi and Como, which it had dismantled, all the 
privileges which Milan itself enjoyed." ^ From that time he 

1 Sismondi's '.' Italian Republics." 



LODI AND CREMA 2§3 

did not cease his attacks, until the metropolis had been meted 
out its terrible fate. 

Ancient Lodi never arose from its devastation; but its in- 
habitants continued dwelling in the villages near-by, and in 
1 158, Frederick, "following the course of the Adda, made 
choice of a situation about four miles from the ruins of the 
former Lodi. Here he ordered the people of Lodi to rebuild 
their town, which would in future secure to him the passage 
of the Adda. He summoned thither also the militias of 
Pavia and Cremona, with those of the other towns of Lom- 
bardy, which their jealousy of Milan had attached to the 
Ghibelline party." ^^ In this extraordinary manner sprang 
up the present Lodi. That it was quickly erected into a city 
of some size, with proper churches, inns, and public buildings 
of every nature, is shown by the fact that only 8 years later, 
in 1 166, the Emperor assembled there an important diet, 
of the representatives of all his faithful Italian boroughs. 
In the counter-assemblage, the following year, at which the 
League of Lombardy was formed against him, Lodi, with 
Pavia, refused to take part; but was later compelled by the 
allied cities " by force of arms, to take an oath ; " — a thing 
which they could not force upon the powerful metropolis of 
the Lombards. 

Before this time, however, the people of Lodi had secured 
their revenge upon the Milanese by helping Barbarossa in 
his capture of the great city, which he accomplished only 
through famine. For three whole years he kept Milan in- 
vested, the crops and fruit trees cut down for 15 miles on 
every side, and all entry of eatables prevented by incessant 
watchfulness. It is related how he " commanded the Ger- 
mans and the men of Lodi to watch the roads day and night, 

la Sismondi's "Italian Republics." 



284 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

lest the men of Brescia and Piacenza should carry provisions 
to the Milanese." When the final surrender came, in March 
1 162, the militia of Lodi marched beside the Emperor into 
the doomed city; " and he commanded the men of Lodi to de- 
stroy the Eastern gate, with La Tora," while the other quar- 
ters were similarly parcelled out for rasure. " The men of 
Lodi, mindful of their injuries received from the Milanesi, 
not only destroyed the Eastern gate, but a great part of the 
Roman. — Lamentations mingled with the sound of arms, 
until it seemed as if heaven and earth together were falling 
m rums. ^ 

But Lodi, strange to say, later compelled by force to join the 
Lombard League, remained then Guelfic of her own accord; 
united with Milan and other cities of that persuasion, she par- 
ticipated in the disastrous defeat of Ghibello, 121 8, adminis- 
tered by the Ghibellines; and in 1226 she joined in the renew- 
ing of the Lombard compact against Frederick IL So far 
did she now go in her Guelfic tendencies, that in 1259 she 
elected as her military lord Martino della Torre, the captain 
of Milan ; thus voluntarily and unsuspectingly entering upon 
a thraldom which soon became servitude, and held her pros- 
trate for centuries. When Archbishop Otho Visconti dispos- 
sessed the Della Torre in 1277, Lodi received him " with en- 
thusiasm " ; and accepted as her immediate masters the local 
family of the Fisiraga, under the appointment of Otho and 
Matteo. It was Antonio Fisiraga who laid down the 
tyranny of Lodi at the behest of Emperor Henry VII, in 
13 10. 

The city nevertheless remained subject to the Visconti, 
being included in " the sixteen flourishing towns " that obeyed 
Archbishop Giovanni, toward the middle of that century, 
and forming a portion of the domains of Galeazzo II during 

2 E. Seeley's " Artists of the Renaissance." 



LODI AND CREMA 285 

his rule at Pavia; while in 1395 it was listed in the decree of 
Emperor Wesceslaus granting the Duchy of Milan to Gian 
Galeazzo. Under the latter's sway, and probably that of his 
father, the local despots representing them at Lodi were 
changed to the family of the Vistarini; as is proved by the 
glimpse afforded us upon the death of Gian Galeazzo, when 
the resulting turmoil was taken advantage of by the earlier 
line of tyrants to regain possession of their power: "At 
Lodi, in 1402, Antonio Fisiraga (a namesake of him who was 
displaced by Henry VII) burned the chief members of the 
ruling house of Vistarini on the public square ; and died him- 
self of poison after a few months. His successor in the 
tyranny, Giovanni Vignate (a millionaire, who purchased his 
elevation) was imprisoned by Filippo Maria Visconti in a 
wooden cage at Pavia, and beat his brains out in despair 
against its bars." ^ Truly a typical picture, of that most ter- 
rible age of the world's history. 

As if exhausted by this outburst, Lodi remained quiet for 
the next hundred years, until the French occupation of Lom- 
bardy; then she suffered a disaster, in 1522, when garrisoned 
by the French army under Lescun; for the latter was sur- 
prised and driven out by a sudden attack of the imperialistic 
forces, who forthwith sacked the city. They followed up 
Lescun, and compelled him to capitulate at Cremona. This 
was the cause of the first French evacuation of Lombardy, 
and the installation of Maximilian Sforza as Duke. The 
Spaniards and their allies remained in force at Lodi; and 
made the town their headquarters upon the return of King 
Francis with his new army. While he besieged Pavia, the 
imperialists slowly gathered their strength at Lodi, until 

3 Symonds' *' Age of the Despots." — Filippo had seized by treach- 
ery both Vignate and his son, after they had solemnly acknowledged 
his lordship, and been confirmed as his vicars. 



286 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

they felt strong enough, in February, 1525, to advance and 
give him battle. The city suffered severely from being at 
the heart of this great struggle; and after it was ended, she 
suffered equally with her neighbours from its long desolat- 
ing effects, and from the terrible " seven Spanish devils." 
Like Pavia, she was for a time nearly exterminated. 

With the coming of the French again under Bonaparte, 
Lodi once more found herself at the centre of strife, owing 
to her critical position in command of the only bridge across 
the Adda between Treviglio and Pizzighettone. At one of 
the three places Bonaparte must pass, if he would drive the 
Austrians from the plain; for they had retreated behind the 
Adda, and held the bridge of Pizzighettone, where they ex- 
pected the French to make their effort to cross, by a force 
too strong to be dislodged under such conditions. But Bona- 
parte, leaving a division there to mask his movements, made 
one of his sudden, forced marches to Lodi, with the main 
part of his army, and instantly attacked the Austrians who 
were guarding the bridge with 20 guns. After great loss 
the passage was finally carried, not — as has so often been 
said — under the personal leadership of Bonaparte, but under 
that of Berthier, Lannes, Massena and other generals. The 
wreck of the Austrian force succeeded in rejoining its main 
body, which at once retreated behind the Mincio; while Na- 
poleon from Lodi sent a triumphant despatch to the Direc- 
tory, stating that " the whole of Lombardy belonged to the 
Republic." — " It was on this tenth of May that Bonaparte 
first felt, as he tells us, that he was destined to be great." * 

There are two ways of proceeding by rail from Pavia to 
Lodi ; one is by the steam-tramway, which runs straightaway 
northeast to that destination, passing midway the large but 
uninteresting village of S. Angelo Lodigiano, where it is 

* G. Cooper's " Italian Campaigns of Gen. Bonaparte." 



LODI AND CREMA 287 

necessary to change cars and make a wait of some time ; the 
trip requires in all three to four hours, and is not worth the 
trouble. The other route is by the eastbound railroad to 
Cremona, as far as Casalpusterlengo, — where a transfer is 
made to the main line running northward ; a trip of but half 
the time of the first-named. The latter was accordingly my 
choice. In setting out upon it, however, I was leaving be- 
hind me, unvisited, one corner of Lombardy. This was the 
so-called Lomellina, a district about 25 miles square on the 
farther side of the Ticino, bounded by the Po and Ticino on 
the south and east, and the Sesia on the west. It is, there- 
fore, geographically not a part of the Lombard province, 
and in fact belonged to Piedmont until the modern reconstruc- 
tion of United Italy. 

But I had another sufficient reason for not including it in 
my present tour: its only two cities, Mortara and Vigevano, 
of 9,000 and 24,000 inhabitants respectively, located in its 
northern part within a dozen miles of the Ticino, have 
neither of them sufficient interest to warrant a visit. Mor- 
tara has one good picture, the Madonna with Sts. Roch and 
Sebastian by Gaudenzio Ferrari, and several of lesser worth 
by Lanini and the decadents; Vigevano has a large and pic- 
turesque central piazza, framed in Renaissance arcades, and 
a castle built by the Visconti, to which the despots of Milan 
occasionally resorted in the summertime. This is ponder- 
ously gothic in design, with two renaissance features added 
by Bramante under the directions of Lodovico Sforza, — 
who seems to have been fond of the place, having also adorned 
its piazza. A graceful loggia, and a tall tower like that of 
Filarete upon the Castello of Milan, constitute Bramante's 
additions. Aside from these things, and a few old churches 
of different epochs, the Lomellina contains nothing worthy 
of annotation. — On the opposite, eastern side of the Ticino, 



288 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

a dozen miles west of Milan, lies a town which was much 
more of a summer-resort for the despots, — Abbiategrasso, 
whose name we are always encountering in the Lombard 
chronicles of the quattrocento. But its castle, to which the 
gay court so often repaired, and its model dairy-farm which 
the Moro delighted to show to his princely visitors, have 
gone the way of the past ; and naught now remains worthy of 
inspection save the church which Bramante erected for 
Lodovico, in his typical style. — 

The journey from Pavia to Lodi revealed no new features 
in the luxuriant, well-watered plain, whose closely set riches 
gleamed joyously in the dazzling June sunshine. At the 
village of Belgiojoso, 9 miles from Pavia, I was reminded of 
the line of noble princes of that name, several of whom dis- 
tinguished themselves in Lombard history; — but none of 
them more so than their brilliant daughter-in-law who played 
such a striking part in the Risorgimento : that woman ^ " of 
remarkable presence — a sincere, a passionate crusader, — ro- 
mantic, in spite of herself, in a life of eminent exile, of con- 
spiracy, of all sorts of adventurous fellowship — (with) her 
strange, pale, penetrating beauty, without bloom, that was 
yet the mark of an astounding masculine energy." Chris- 
tina Trivulzio,^ Princess of Belgiojoso, we remember fleeing 
as a young woman from the Austrian tryanny at Milan, to 
lead for a time the fashionable world of Paris, assiduously 
cultivating art and letters; we remember her in '47 laying 
aside that life, to raise and equip from her own resources a 

s Henry James' " William Wetmore Story." 

« Of her own family of Trivulzio it is said : " The aristocracy of 
Europe boasts no bluer blood than that which runs in the veins of 
this distinguished race, tracing descent from the 12th century, and 
numbering amongst its scions marshals of France." — H. R. White- 
house in his " A Revolutionary Princess." 



LODI AND CREMA 289 

patriotic regiment of cavalry, at the head of which she en- 
tered revolted Milan, wildly acclaimed by the people, — and 
for which these wide hereditary lands were duly confiscated ; 
and again we behold her, in '49, conspicuous at the siege of 
Rome, animating every heart by her courage and activity, 
furnishing and directing the hospitals for the wounded, and 
tending them with a loving care. 

" Her hair was tawny with gold ; her eyes with purple were dark ; 

Her cheeks' pale opal burnt with a red and restless spark. 

Never was lady of Milan nobler in name and in race; 

Never was lady of Italy fairer to see in the face. — 

Gorgeous she entered the sunlight, which gathered her up in a 

flame, 
While straight in her open carriage, she to the hospital came. 
In she went at the door, and gazing from end to end, 
* Many and low are the pallets ; but each is the place of a friend.* 
Up she passed through the wards, and stood at a young man's bed: 
Bloody the band on his brow, and livid the droop of his head. 
'Art thou a Lombard, my brother? Happy art thou!' she cried, 
And smiled like Italy on him ; he dreamed in her face — and died. — 
Faint with that strain of heart, she moved on then to another. 
Stern and strong in his death. 'And dost thou suffer, my brother?* 
Holding his hands in hers: 'Out of the Piedmont lion 
Cometh the sweetness of freedom, sweetest to live or to die on." "^ 

The magnificent castle of Belgiojoso, which was the scene 
of splendid entertainments in the days of Maria Theresa, 
when its princes held high authority at Milan, still stands 
in fair repair ; and I also caught, as I thought, a sight of the 
great aqueduct that was constructed by them to bring water 
to their spacious gardens of historic beauty, and their pater- 
nally guided little town. 

After the change of trains at Casalpusterlengo (what a 
mouthful) we soon approached Lodi through a country more 

"^ Mrs. Browning's " A Court Lady." — See also Raffaelo Bar- 
biera's " La Principessa Belgiojoso." 



290 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

strikingly fruitful than any district yet beheld, every square 
yard of Its rich loam being minutely cultivated, with magic 
effects. Irrigation has ever been the wonder-worker in this 
great garden between the Lambro and the Adda; I saw the 
innumerable ditches and rivulets traversing Its fields, in large 
part prettily lined with trees. Its fecundity has been famous 
for hundreds of years. Evelyn wrote In the 17th century: 
" Passing through a continual garden, we went on with ex- 
ceeding pleasure, for It Is the paradise of Lombardy, the 
highways being as even and straight as a line, the fields to 
a vast extent planted with fruit about the enclosures, vines 
to every tree at equal distances, and watered with frequent 
streams. There was likewise much corne, and olives in 
aboundance." ^ 

Here is produced all the celebrated Parmesan cheese, — 
not any being now made at Parma; and this accounted for 
the remarkable sight of extensive grazing pastures In land so 
rich. The meadows devoted to the great herds of cows are 
freely Irrigated for most of the year ; which not only furnishes 
grass of exceptional growth and peculiar succulence, but in 
many places, where warm springs are available for winter 
use, enables the cattle to continue grazing through the cold 
months; so it Is no wonder that they have the reputation of 
producing a third to a half more milk than is possible else- 
where, — besides making It of that special richness and flavour 
which are necessary to the cheese. And what would mac- 
caroni be without Parmesan, or Italy without maccaroni ! 

The station of LodI prove4 to be on the west of the city; 

8 Evelyn's " Diary and Letters." — " Je ne puis trop exalter " — 
wrote also Charles de Brosses of this countryside in 1740 — "la 
beaute des routes, et de tout le pays, riche et fecond, partout plante 
de beaux arbres, et coupe d'une quantite de canaux entre lesquels on 
marche presque toujours." — Lettres sur I'ltalie. 



LODI AND CREMA 291 

and a tree-shaded avenue led me quickly, following a facchino 
bearing my luggage, to an unarched gateway in the mediaeval 
brick walls, and a sunny piazza just inside it, from which the 
two principal streets diverged eastward. The more north- 
ern of these was the Corso Vitt. Emanuele, fairly broad, 
paved with little cobbles, and lined with two- and three- 
storied stucco buildings, of the last two or three hundred 
years; amongst them, on the left, rose one larger palace of 
the rococo era, containing the post and telegraph offices. But 
this was a later discovery ; for I followed now the other street. 
Via Garibaldi, which was of the same general character, 
and in six or seven minutes reached the principal inn, upon 
its left side. Though the best the city could boast, this was 
so primitive, that I should not advise a lady to plan a stay of 
more than one night. They have not been accustomed to 
foreigners yet, in Lodi. 

Setting out northward, a block or two brought me to 
the central Piazza Maggiore, at the end of Corso Vitt. 
Emanuele, — a large, treeless square surrounded by arcades, 
supported mostly upon heavy mediaeval columns with crude 
capitals. At the northern angle of the Corso stood an ex- 
ception to the general stucco construction of the buildings, — 
a delightful brick palazzo of gothic days, with graceful 
pointed arches of that material, and charming pointed win- 
dows overhead, under whose ledges ran sections of a beautiful 
trefoil cornice of terracotta. On the piazza's eastern side 
stood the Duomo and the Municipio, adjacent; the one 
large and ponderous, surmounted by a massive tower, the 
other small and graceful; the one of dark, rough brick, the 
other of light, polished stone; the one in severe gothic lines, 
the other in pure renaissance ; as different therefore from each 
other as two buildings could be. 

The enormous quadrangular campanile of the Duomo 



292 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

rose upon its right side, occupying nearly a third of the fa- 
cade; it bore a large clock-face at mid-height, and was prac- 
tically unperforated as far as the incongruous belfry of 
double rounded arches. The single doorway was shaded 
by a fine gothic porch, whose pointed brick archway was sus- 
tained by slender marble columns rising from dilapidated 
crouching lions, and by two pairs of reed-like three-quarter 
columns with romanesque capitals of distorted human figures 
"and beasts, quite boldly executed; the gable of the arch was 
adorned with a handsome arcaded frieze and cornice of 
terracotta; the doorway was recessed six-fold, in gothic 
mouldings, and its rounded lunette contained a quaint early 
relief of the Saviour, the Madonna, and S. Bassanio, the 
patron of the church and of the city. A lifesize gilded statue 
of the Madonna occupied a columned niche at the very apex 
of the gabled fagade. Between it and the porch opened 
a fine rose window; and immediately flanking the entrance, 
in the second story, opened two perfectly renaissance win- 
dows, in amazing contrast, — each consisting of two arches 
upheld by elegant and very slender columns. Besides these 
there were a number of unframed apertures, of varying size, 
wandering sparsely and irregularly about the vast fagade, 
— which was thus a strange but interesting medley of the 
ages. At the foot of the tower I noticed a cinquecento 
fresco, covered with wire, representing the Madonna and 
S. Bassanio, — once evidently quite good, but now irretriev- 
ably damaged. And upon entering the edifice I observed 
two other saintly figures, standing carved upon the opposite 
jambs, whose elongated primitiveness showed the age of the 
building. 

The spacious, round-arched nave proved to have been 
redecorated in the baroque style, with the usual reliefs all 
over the side arches, and gilding upon the cornice, the capi- 



LODI AND CREMA 293 

tals, and the panelled pilasters of the stuccoed piers; the 
bays of the vaulting were painted in grey designs with occa- 
sional oval portraits of saints; the aisles, similarly decorated, 
were raised at the ends beside the elevated choir, to which 
central steps ascended, between others descending to the crypt. 
The general dimensions of the edifice were good, and the 
duskiness unusual. Above the entrance in the right aisle I 
noticed a fine large Assumption of the Virgin, well and 
boldly drawn, and skilfully moulded, by Botassi of Milan ; it 
was also richly toned and coloured, and the figure of the 
Virgin, borne upward by lovely angels and cherubim, re- 
flected her perfect transport of soul, while the Apostles below 
were depicted with much fidelity. It is a most remarkable 
work for the decadent period, and should be hung in a better 
light. 

The chapels opened from the right aisle; in the first I 
saw a good modern fresco of the Proclamation of the Dogma 
of the Immaculate Conception; in the second, besides a 
number of damaged old frescoes, an excellent specimen of 
the frescoing of the Campi, of Cremona, representing the 
Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple, splendidly carried 
out, though now considerably injured, with a charming figure 
of the child-Madonna; in the third, a seicento picture of S. 
Gaetano at the feet of the Madonna, by Lanzano, and 
another by one of the Milanese Procaccini representing a 
dream of Pope S. Liberio. Over the stairs in the right 
aisle hung a large canvas of the final conversation of Jesus 
with the Magdalen, by the decadent painter, Cavaliere 
Trotti of Cremona, called II Malosso, — ^exceptionally good 
for his period. 

The crypt I found also to be modernised, though filled 
with 48 columns in several rows, with altars at the sides 
and back, Above the stairs in the left aisle was imbedded 



294 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

in the wall the very extraordinary relief of the Last Supper 
which was brought from the Duomo of old Lodi, and which 
must therefore have been executed before 1158: above a 
broad, even strip supposed to be the table, sit the twelve 
archaic figures in a row, with the thirteenth, St. John, re- 
clining at right angles on the Saviour's breast; their faces 
are wooden, mere caricatures of human likeness, with the 
pupils of the eyes gouged very large, and a few straight lines 
to indicate the beards; all but one are faced directly to the 
front; one hand of each is extended upon the table, the 
other crossed upon the chest, — except as to the Christ, who 
is embracing St. John with His left hand and blessing with 
His right; His head and body are made considerably larger 
than the others; upon the board at intervals are carved half- 
moon bowls, circular plates, loaves of bread, goblets and 
wine-bottles, which the prostrate hands are grasping or slic- 
ing. Executed in a single basaltic stone, not larger than 5 
feet by 2 feet, and perfectly preserved, it is altogether one 
of the most curious and interesting carvings of the early 
Middle Age; especially curious also, in that it betrays so 
little affinity to the Lombard sculpture of the same period, — 
being superior to them in design, spirit, and dignity. Above 
it I observed the accompanying smaller relief, of the same 
epoch and kind of stone, showing the standing figures of 
Sts. Clement and Bassanio. 

Proceeding finally to the single chapel off the left aisle, I 
found there my first local specimens of the Lodi Renaissance 
school of painting, — two splendid polyptichs by Albertino 
and Calisto Piazza, in handsomely carved and gilded frames; 
that of the former being a most lovely Madonna in glory, 
surrounded by little angels, with God the Father above, and 
Sts. Lucia and John the Baptist on either hand; that of 
the latter being a Massacre of the Innocents, between two 



LODI AND CREMA 295 

standing saints, below, and above these a Madonna with 
two saints, between St. George killing his dragon on one 
hand and Sts. Paul and Lawrence upon the other. All 
these tableaux were alike in richness of tone and colour, and 
many of the figures were very lifelike as well as graceful. 
They showed the voluptuousness of form acquired by Calisto 
during his association with Romanino at Brescia, which often 
causes him to be assigned to the Bresclan school. His su- 
periority over the others of the Piazza family may therefore 
be assigned to superior advantages, including his study under 
Titian; yet Martino and Albertino, though of the previous 
generation, occasionally ran him closely, — as I was shortly 
to see again. In that wonderful temple which they all dec- 
orated for Lodi, the church of the Incoronata. 

Emerging into the Piazza, I next looked at the adjacent 
Munlclpio, whose small but graceful renaissance fagade con- 
sisted of two open archways below, — through the right one 
of which passed a narrow street to the rear of the Duomo — 
and four smaller arches above, resting on coupled granite 
columns with doric caps, and connected by a balustrade. 
Upon the angles of the cornice stood two sculptured figures 
holding shields with the national arms. The left archway 
below opened Into a long loggia extending under the edifice, 
along the left of the narrow street; and its arcade there 
was of heavy, pointed, stucco arches, upheld by large col- 
umns with primitive foliated caps, — evidently a much earlier 
construction. Within it I found busts of Cavour and Gari- 
baldi, and marble tablets containing the names of the sons 
of Lodi fallen In war. 

It was by this time well on In the afternoon. So I re- 
turned to the Inn for a late and hurried lunch, then retraced 
my steps westward on Via Garibaldi, to the ancient church 
of S. Lorenzo upon its northern side. This was a polished 



296 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

brick edifice, with a stuccoed campanile^ and several pleasing 
terracotta details in the fagade: they consisted of a handsome 
circular window-frame, frieze, and cornice; the portal was 
gracefully rounded in brickwork, with a ruined cinquecento 
fresco in its tympanum; and a similar damaged fresco, of 
the Madonna between two monks, was observable at the 
extreme left. The interior was more interesting: the low, 
short nave and narrow aisles, separated by huge columns 
with romanesque caps, and the elevated choir flanked by lower 
continuations of the aisles, had in spite of renovations many 
survivals of the original, quaint, 12th century structure. 
The rounded vaultings with their ribbed bays, the round 
arches between the columns, and the much worn, red-tiled 
pavement, all came from that early period when this was 
one of the few churches first built in the new Lodi. In the 
quattrocento it had been frescoed from end to end; as was 
evidenced Hy the primitive Madonna and Child lingering 
high upon the left wall, and the excellent group of the 
Madonna with angels and kneeling devotees, above the en- 
trance. 

Another faded quattrocento work occupied the first altar 
to left, — located, like all the others, in a shallow recess; 
this was a quaint Adoration of the Child, by the Madonna, 
St. Joseph, and the shepherds. In the following recess, by 
utter contrast, was a powerfully painted Pieta of the Piazza 
school, with Sts. Roch and Augustine standing by, — the 
Madonna and the dead Christ being striking figures. The 
worst of the renovation had been perpetrated in the choir- 
apse, which was backed with an appalling row of painted 
plaster statues in niches, centred by a vivid blue and red 
Christ, and surrounded to the vaulting by a weird and 
horrible aggregation of stucco reliefs, beyond mention ; the 
spirit and treatment of the whole thing reminded me of 



LODI AND CREMA 297 

nothing but a stuccoed exedra In the garden of a decadent 
villa, given over to mythological divinities. It w^as v^orth 
seeing as a curious example of the limits of the baroque. 

Shortly east of San Lorenzo, upon a side street running 
southward from Via Garibaldi, I discovered a fascinating 
brick and terracotta church of the gothic period, — S. Agnese. 
Its fagade w^as truly delightful: the doorway was beautiful 
with cotta mouldings, and a charming fresco in the lunette 
of St. Agnes caressing her lamb, between two lustrous an- 
gels; the cotta string-course and frieze were exquisitely 
wrought, and likewise the frames of the two pointed win- 
dows, enclosed at their peaks in cotta plaques of variegated 
colours. The interior was unusual, its nave and aisles being 
of equal height, divided by plain brick columns with cotta 
capitals; and over the first of its side-altars, fixed directly 
upon the wall, glowed a brilliant polyptich by Martino and 
Albertino Piazza, in a fine Renaissance frame, displaying a 
Madonna and Child beneath God the Father, surrounded 
by several saints. It was a richly toned and coloured canvas, 
with figures naturally yet charmingly modelled and disposed, 
and " a Madonna of almost Raphaelesque beauty and 
grace. ^ 

Having still an hour or more before dinner-time, I re- 
turned to Piazza Maggiore, and wandered from it through 
the narrow streets to the eastward, built much alike with 
their invariable stuccoed houses, begrimed more or less ac- 
cording to age. I investigated the churches, finding one or 
two of antiquity, but nothing worth annotation; and finally 
reached the bank of the broad, rushing Adda, spanned by a 
narrov/ and very ordinary-looking bridge, with naught about 
it to hint of historical importance. Yet over it had oc- 
curred that immemorial charge, a century ago, which was 

9 Layard's " Handbook of Painting." 



298 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

so fateful to the history of all the nations. I thought how 
" Bonaparte, after a strife of artillery, had formed that close 
column of grenadiers and carbineers. — ^They were suddenly 
led forward into the hail of balls and grapeshot from 20 
guns which poured along the narrow path. In vain they 
strove. — Seeing them waver, Berthier, Massena and others 
rushed forward to lead them. Some soldiers, dropping over 
the bridge, waded through the shallows, formed a line of 
skirmishers, and strove to keep down the fire of the guns. 
Perseverance and enthusiasm — at length enabled the French 
to triumph. The grenadiers, with noble resolution, passed 
the fatal defile at a run, dashed upon the artillery, and, 
aided by their supports, and some squadrons of horse which 
had forded the river, routed the enemy." ^^ 

The next morning I was free to devote myself to Lodi's 
one great and unique building, the celebrated church of 
the Madonna Incoronata, than which there stands no temple 
more lavishly beautified by the gentlest brushes of the Renais- 
sance. It is an immortal monument to the charm of the 
Piazza school and the pietistic genius of Borgognone. The 
building itself is an exquisite, graceful structure, for which 
also Lodi must be given the credit : since it was erected by her 
authorities, under the plan and original superintendence of 
her own son, Giov. Giacomo Battaggia, " who had already 
worked under Bramante at the building of S. Satiro in 
Milan." ^^ " Later Doldebono was called in, and took 
charge till the completion, about 1500. " A notice of him, 
dated 1498, — records the payment of the painter Ambrogio 
da Fossano, called Borgognone, for the decoration of the apse 

1^ G. Hooper's " Italian Campaigns of Gen. Bonaparte." 

11 Lucca Beltrami's "Italian Wall Decoration of the 15th and 

1 6th Centuries." — Ricci labels this building the "masterpiece of 

Battaggia and Dolcebono." 



LODI AND CREMA 299 

of the high altar." ^^^ It was thus a construction of the very 
perihelion of art, under its most talented craftsmen. 

I found it upon the western side of the street leading 
north from the fagade of the Municipio, but half a block 
distant: a stuccoed edifice of no large extent, painted in 
imitation of stone, with a portico of three broad arches, upon 
real granite columns with fanciful caps, and six smaller 
arches overhead, upon stucco piers and columns. At the left 
end of the portico rose a brick 'campanile^ to a belfry of 
double arches with marble shafts, and an incongruous brick 
spire; beside this soared the huge, central, brick drum, 
octagon-shaped, surmounted by a stucco balustrade, and 
pierced by small circular windows. The genuine beauties 
were reserved for the inside, in true Bramantesque fashion,* 
for when I entered, by the left one of the triple portals 
beneath the arches, — the blaze, the sparkle, the coruscation 
of infinite and glowing hues, that showered upon me from 
every wall and angle of the graceful rotunda, glistening from 
coloured marbles and lovely, figured canvases, made it seem 
like nothing so much as a mighty sunburst of precious stones. 
Great jewels flashed from the altars around the walls, lesser 
gems from the corners and archways, while prismatic neck- 
laces wound over frieze and cornice, and dangled iridescent 
down the pilasters; even the floor was brilliantly maculated 
in minute patterns, with marbles of soft tints in red and 
cream and grey. 

Behind this play of colours soared the harmonious lines of 
the classic structure, — a lofty, domed octagon in Bramante's 
familiar style, which he bequeathed to his pupils: small in 
its breadth but perfect in proportions; the usual eight sweep- 
ing archways surrounding the ground story, the front one 

iia Lucca Beltrami's "Italian Wall Decoration of the 15th and 
16th Centuries." 



300 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

being devoted to the entrance passage and the rear one to the 
choir; the second story being adorned with a succession of 
symmetrical round arches, two on each side, opening into a 
triforium illumined by corresponding windows, and both un- 
derrun and surmounted by elaborate cornices ; while the dome 
was solidly painted with gilt arabesques and bright-hued 
tableaux, terminating in a little lantern, white with de- 
scending light. The recess of the choir extended deeply to 
an apse, behind the high altar placed well at its front. Of 
the three main archways on the street side, two contained 
entrances, and the third, — upon the right — opened into 
the sacristy through a doorway beneath the organ-loft. The 
other four archways were occupied by altars, laden with 
and surrounded by paintings. Paintings covered the wall- 
spaces, the recesses, the cornices, and the tall pilasters rising 
to support the latter. And the prevailing hue, the back- 
ground, of this luxuriant frescoed garden — the very tone 
of the series of canvases flowering in its beds — was gold; 
deep, rich g'old, that showered its warmth and scintillated its 
sparkling rays like a glory of tropic sunshine. Here, if 
anywhere, did it seem as if man had betaken himself — - 

"To gild refined gold, to paint the lily — 
To smooth the ice, and add another hue 
Unto the rainbow." 

The mouldings running around the large arches were 
gilded; the faces of their supports and the intervening 
pilasters were embellished either with gilded arabesques, or 
frescoed putti charmingly interwoven with columns of vases, 
masks, instruments, etc. ; the capitals were gilded, the cornice 
above them, and the bosses and relieved panels decorating 
the soffits of the archways; painted panels of single figures 
occupied the centres of the ornate relieved pedestals; and 
from the spandrels looked forth larger figures, around me- 



LODI AND CREMA 301 

dalllons with projecting busts of terracotta. In the second 
story, the columns and mouldings of the arcades were gilded, 
and the rich cornice above them, while the dividing pilasters 
were like those below, in their alternation of frescoing with 
gilded arabesques. It is true that this adornment was alto- 
gether too lavish; but the frescoing was happy in its effect, 
land the gilding saved from cloying by its clever confinement 
to raised surfaces. The frescoes, I was told, were the work 
of pupils and assistants of .the Piazza school, under the de- 
signing and direction of the masters; which accounted for 
their unusual excellence, and the pleasing grace of many of 
their frolicking putti. 

Taking up the canvases, — on the first altar to left glowed 
a splendid polyp tych by Martino Piazza, the father of Ca- 
listo: a Crucifixion between two couples of saints, and below 
them the crowned Madonna, very lovely indeed, with two 
little angels, — S. Mauro standing on the right side, a strik- 
ing, noble figure, and S. Antonio del Campinello standing on 
the left, beside one of the Bellinzaghi family of Milan who 
ordered this picture. Its predella showed the Saviour with 
the twelve Apostles. It was beautifully toned and drawn, 
proving Martino to have been the possessor of real pietistic 
genius, — although, according to Layard, he was always as- 
sisted by his brother. Over the next altar Calisto presided: 
there was a large central canvas of the Deposition, of mas- 
terly handling; on its left were the scenes of Jesus being 
betrayed, exquisitely coloured, and the Scourging, with a 
glorious figure of the Christ, godlike in His torture; on 
the right were Jesus fallen under the Cross, and being 
crucified, — scenes too violent and crowded, but of fine tint- 
ing and modelling. On the back of the high-altar appeared 
an enchanting specimen of Martino's brother, Albertino: a 
Coronation of the Madonna, amid a delightful swarm of 



302 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

angels. This is so utterly different from Martino's style, 
that it does not seem possible that he could have collaborated 
upon it, in spite of the belief of their always working to- 
gether. — The seicento walnut choir-stalls were most richly 
carved, with many cherubs and other figures, saintly busts, 
and countless variegated designs. The bronze railing before 
the altar was also a fine work. 

On the right side, the second altar was also decorated by 
Calisto: in the centre, a large canvas of the Beheading of 
John the Baptist, unfortunately much faded; at the left, his 
birth, and his baptism of Jesus, — in the latter of which he 
stands a remarkable, holy ascetic, inspired and glorified by 
the magnitude of his task; at the right, his preaching before 
Herod and the people, realistic yet of much charm, and the 
bringing of his head to the King, by a handsome, buxom 
Salome, in whom there was none of the proper passion and 
smouldering fire. Want of depth, of expression and of feel- 
ing, may in fact be said to constitute the point where the 
Piazza family all failed in attaining greatness; if they tried 
too hard, they descended into violence. Nevertheless their 
work here is ravishingly beautiful, and little to be surpassed 
anywhere amongst the tableaux of pietistic repose. Those 
by Calisto display the grandeur of colouring which he learned 
in the school of Titian; so much so that Lanzi, who calls him 
one of the best of that master's disciples, relates a report, 
which still is current in Lodi, " that Titian, in passing 
through Lodi, produced several heads; — probably only a 
story originating in the exceeding beauty that may be ob- 
served in some." ^^ 

Over the first altar to right, centered by a final effort of 
Calisto, a much-faded Conversion of St. Paul, stood the four 
magnificent pictures by Borgognone, — marvellous works, car- 

12 Lanzi's " History of Painting," Vol. II. 



LODI AND CREMA 303 

rying Instantly to the mind the impression of a genius more 
profound than his confreres of Lodl. At the left, above, was 
a most exquisite Annunciation, with figures of wondrous 
beauty of moulding, grace, and fleshwork, invested with 
tenderest feeling, posed in a dusky, handsome chamber, of 
coffered ceiling and tessellated floor, whose perspective led, 
with striking effect, through a double archway into an inner 
court dazzling with summer sunshine. I could fairly hear 
the flies buzzing between its walls. This is one of the rare 
paintings that give pleasure quite unalloyed. Below it hung 
the Adoration of the Magi; and at the right side of the 
altar, the Visitation, and the Presentation of Jesus at the 
Temple: all superb accomplishments, remarkable for their 
pietistic expression, as well as their great beauty of form 
and colour. In the background of the latter was shown this 
very church, with extraordinary precision and perspective. 

These four paintings were far superior to the works of 
Borgognone which I had last seen, — his decorations in the 
Certosa, which also he executed at an early age, (excepting, of 
course, his masterpiece of the Crucifixion) — and stood pre- 
eminent even when compared with his exquisite canvases 
that I had studied at Bergamo. Here I discerned the master 
not yet advanced in years, who had thought, and laboured, 
had suffered life's buffetings, and learned the great lesson 
of religious consolation; above all, the master who had gone 
to Milan, and sat at the feet of the mighty Leonardo, in 
those years closing the Moro's brilliant reign. As Bel- 
trami put it: " His style was modified by his study of the 
work of Leonardo ; the paintings at Lodi especially exemplify 
this fact." ^^ They show the influence in the gentle grace- 
fulness of their forms, and the delicate loveliness of their 

1^ Beltrami's "Italian Wall Decoration of the 15th and i6th Cen- 
turies." 



304 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

heads; which more than warrant Beltrami's rating of their 
author, as " one of the most distinguished painters of devo- 
tional subjects of the Lombard school." Layard wrote: 
" Borgognone appears to have been a man of a deeply re- 
ligious nature, and his works are so exclusively religious 
that he has been called the Fra Angelico of the Lombard 
school. — Among his principal works in his first or silvery 
manner, may be mentioned — four beautiful predella pictures 
in the church of the Incoronata at Lodi, which have much 
of the sweetness of Leonardo da Vinci and Lulni. — Mar- 
tino Piazza was under the influence of Borgognone ; and was 
more conventional in his works than his younger brother, 
Albertino, who was thoroughly Lombardesque. Their prin- 
cipal and conjointly executed works are at Lodi." ^* 

The next archway was that filled by the organ-loft over- 
head, with the doorway to the sacristy below; the front 
of the loft-railing was delightfully carved into tasteful ara- 
besques; upon the outside of the organ-blinds were two 
striking full-length figures of Sts. Alberto and Basslano, 
draped in richly embroidered robes, by the brothers Chiesa, 
of the school of Luini; and upon the inside, Sts. Catherine 
and Mary Magdalen by the same. Underneath, at the 
sides of the doorway, hung two fine old pictures of unknown 
authorship; a canvas of the Pleta, half-length, upon black 
ground, with two round-faced angels supporting the Saviour, 
all exceedingly well modelled; and a cinquecento detached 
fresco of the Madonna and Child. Over the main entrance- 
doorway I observed one more Calisto, — an Adoration of the 
Magi, finely spaced and composed, in his usual warm tone 
and colouring, with a background of ruined building and 
sunset after-glow; and at Its sides were four poorer works, 
scenes from the Old Testament, by his son Fulvio. Beside 

1* Layard's " Handbook of Painting." 



LODI AND CREMA 30S 

the left-hand ingress, finally, — by which I had entered, — 
hung two more cinquecento paintings of unknown author- 
ship, both frescoes : a Madonna with two saints and a devotee, 
and a very beautiful, solitary Madonna and Child. 

On finishing my inspection of this memorable and gem- 
like edifice, I proceeded slightly farther north upon the 
same street, and taking the first turning to the left, followed 
it to the western ramparts of the city, not far distant. 
There I found myself 50 feet above the exterior countryside, 
which stretched away smiling with freshly green meadows, 
beautified by clumps of stately willows and long lines of 
pointed poplars, — pasturage for the numerous herds of milch 
cows. To the north and southwest I saw the tall, brick 
city-wall extending, along the top of a high embankment, 
backed within by closely packed white houses and verdant 
gardens; in the latter direction a pleasant promenade was 
also visible, along the parapet, making a charming walk 
for the sunsets of summer evenings; and at its extreme end 
soared a mighty, round, mediaeval, brick tower, its bulging 
top with heavy machicolations raised far into the blue, — the 
guard-tower of the great western bastion. How vividly it 
brought back, as of yesterday, that fierce and terrible time 
of its erection, when Frederick Barbarossa encouraged the 
militia at their task, and prepared for the downfall of 
Milan. 

In order to reach the ancient Lodi which had just then 
been destroyed, I was obliged that afternoon to pass near 
this huge tower, and drive four miles beyond it, across these 
wide-stretching grassy meadows, so like an English park. 
But the little village which today stands on the old site, was 
hardly worth the journey. Amongst its stuccoed houses are 
observable a few fragments surviving from the Roman city, 
mostly built into the present walls, — columns, broken capi- 



3o6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

tals, bits of entablature, etc. ; and there are two mediasval 
churches, S. Bassiano and S. Pietro, the former of which 
is exceptional in that it is built of unplastered brick, with 
some pretensions to style. Both of them contain series of 
quattrocento frescoes, more or less dilapidated and quaint 
in their effect, but of no special value. 

The town of Melegnano (formerly Marignano) is an- 
other near-by historic place, with no memorials of its own 
importance. It lies about 9 miles to the northwest, halfway 
to Milan. There it was, on Sept. 13th and 14th, 15 15, that 
Francis I inflicted upon the Swiss mercenaries of Maximilian 
Sforza, then reigning, that disastrous and crushing defeat 
called the Battle of the Giants, which resulted in the latter's 
dethronement. No battle for centuries had been so bloody 
in Italy; 6,000 French and 12,000 Swiss lost their lives. The 
remainder of the latter promptly abandoned the Duke and his 
territory, and the French conquest of Lombardy followed. 
Francis is said to have fought like a hero; and accordingly, 
the next day, received at his own request the order of 
knighthood, from the renowned Chevalier Bayard, who was 
in his army. Again, on June 8th, 1859, the French won 
an important victory on the same field, this time against the 
Austrians; which materially contributed to the freedom of 
Italy. Nothing however remains in the village frorri these 
great events. But its parish church contains one of Bor- 
gognone's beautiful altar-pieces, representing the baptism of 
Christ. 

The railroad which traverses Melegnano, Lodi, and Cas- 
alpusterlengo, is an important main line, going on to 
Piacenza, Parma and Bologna. But to convey one from 
Lodi to Crema, a dozen miles east of the Adda, there is 
only a cross-country steam tramway, — the continuation of 
that from S. Angelo Lodigiano. I found the station of this, 



LODI AND CREMA 307 

when I departed the second morning, located on the north 
side of the city, just without the walls. The train consisted 
of a diminutive locomotive and a couple of little old rickety 
cars. Crawling around the ramparts, and across the river, it 
followed the eastern highway, at a rate of about 10 miles 
per hour; but even this speed produced such a rolling and 
tossing as to threaten a frequent departure from the rails. 
As we stopped also at every aggregation of 3 or 4 houses, our 
advance was not rapid, and I had plenty of time to observe 
the beautiful country before the noon hour brought us finally 
to Crema. 

With Crema I was once more entering Venetian territory, 
acquired by the Queen of the Sea when Francesco Sforza 
acceded to the dukedom of Milan; but before that the little 
city had belonged to the Visconti, during the most of their 
tyranny. Crema is a place today of about 10,000 Inhab- 
itants; and probably was never greater than twice that size, 
although she managed to keep herself in the front rank of 
fighting during the struggles of the early Middle Ages. She 
had, it is evident, a fiery, combative spirit, which proved her 
undoing; for, like Lodi, she was entirely destroyed in the 
1 2th century, so that the present town is the product of the 
later ages. Unlike Lodi, with whom she waged from the 
earliest epoch a constant neighbourly strife, Crema belonged 
to the Guelf party headed by Milan ; to that faction she was 
constant to the end, and clearly enthusiastic, for her militia 
were found to the front in every struggle with the imperial- 
ists during the nth and I2th centuries. We can imagine 
the glee with which she assisted the Milanese in destroying 
her ancient rival, Lodi. 

But retribution was not long in coming. Frederick Bar- 
barossa, after rebuilding Lodi, became so incensed at the aid 
always rendered hy Crema to the great rebel, Milan, that 



3o8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

in July, 1 159, he commanded the little city's destruction. 
Said Sismondi: "The people of Crema had remained faith- 
ful to the Milanese in their good and evil fortune; but 
the siege of that town presented fewer difficulties to the 
Emperor than the siege of Milan. Crema was of small 
extent, and could be invested on every side ; it was also more 
accessible to the engines of war, though surrounded by a 
double wall and a ditch filled with water. The Cremonese 
began the siege on the 4th of July; and on the loth, Fred- 
erick arrived to direct it in person. Four hundred Milanese 
had thrown themselves into the town, to partake the combats 
and dangers of their allies. The Emperor, who regarded 
the besieged only as revolted subjects, sought to terrify them 
by the spectacle of punishments. Hostages had been sent to 
him by Milan and Crema (on the occasion of the temporary 
peace agreed to in 1158) ; he ordered several of them to be 
hung before the walls of the town. Some were children of 
the most distinguished families: he caused them to be bound 
to a moving tower, which was brought so close to the attack 
that the besieged could not repel it without killing or 
wounding their own children. A cry of despair resounded 
along the walls of Crema. The wretched parents implored 
death from their fellow-citizens, to escape witnessing the 
agony of their children, and at the same time cried out to 
their children not to fear giving up their lives for their coun- 
try. The battle, in fact, was not interrupted; and the 
moving tower was repelled, after nine of the young hostages 
who covered it with their bodies had been killed. During 
six entire months did the small town of Crema resist the 
whole army of the Emperor. Famine at length accom- 
plished what force could not; and on the 26th of January, 
1 1 60, the heroic inhabitants capitulated, abandoning their 
wealth to pillage, and their houses to the flames. For 



LODI AND CREMA 309 

themselves, wasted by famine and fatigue, they obtained 
permission to withdraw to Milan." ^^ 

Thus occurred the second greatest tragedy of the Lombard 
Middle Age, and of the long warfare between Guelf and 
Ghibelline, — only the destruction of Milan surpassing it 
in pathos and suffering. Thus did little Crema become one 
of the first martyrs in the long roll for the freedom and 
independence of Italy. And her people, after withdrawing 
to Milan, had immediately to go through again the wretched 
horror of siege and demolition. The remnant then returned 
to the old site, and assisted by the neighbouring Guelf towns, 
began the work of rebuilding ; this was accomplished without 
interruption, thanks to the wave of feeling that now swept 
over the whole plain, and that resulted in the formation of 
the League of Lombardy. From the ground on which they 
stood the Cremesi found the material for their structures. 
" What the marble quarries of Pentelicus were to the Athe- 
nian builders, the clay beneath their feet was to the Lombard 
craftsmen. _ From it they fashioned structures as enduring, 
towers as majestic, and cathedral-aisles as solemn, as ever 
were wrought from chiselled stone. There is a true sym- 
pathy between these buildings and the Lombard landscape, 
which by itself might suffice to prove the originality of their 
almost unknown architects. — Of all these Lombard edifices, 
— none is more beautiful than the Cathedral of Crema.^^ 
So, with this simple material, the people not only rebuilt their 
city, but did it so artistically as to produce some of the most 
delightful structures of all Lombardy. 

It was at Cortenuova, close to the new walls of Crema, 
that Emperor Frederick II in 1237 inflicted a terrible defeat 
upon the Guelfs headed by Milan, slaying over 10,000 and 

15 SIsmondi's " Italian Republics." 

i« J. A. Symonds' " Sketches and Studies in Italy." 



3IO LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

dispersing the remainder. But the Cremesi were not now 
amongst them; either they had learned a lesson, or their 
combative power and spirit had not returned. They were, 
doubtless, a prey to the internecine strife of Guelf and 
Ghibelline; for, between the time of Frederick and the com- 
ing of Henry VII in 1310, like every other Lombard city, 
Crema fell into the hands of a family of nobles who took 
advantage of the strife to make themselves despots. In her 
case it was the family of the Benzoni. But their despotism 
did not long continue; for in the early years of the 14th cen- 
tury the city was conquered and annexed by the Visconti, 
either by Matteo il Grande or his grandson Azzo, — proba- 
bly the latter. 

" So are the Italian cities all o'erthronged 
With tyrants, and a great Marcellus made 
Of every petty, factious villager." ^'^ 

From this time Crema continued steadily in the power of 
the Visconti, and governed by their appointees, until the 
death of Fillppo Maria, the last of his line. The city suf- 
fered considerable disturbance after the death of his father 
Glan Galeazzo, owing to its being taken possession of and 
fortified by Gabrlello, a bastard son of the latter ; but Fillppo 
soon ousted his half-brother by force, — which had its usual 
111 consequences to the people. In 1449, however, Francesco 
Sforza turned over Crema, of which he had taken forcible 
possession in September of that year, to the Venetian Republic, 
as a part of the consideration for the latter's support to his 
pretensions to the duchy of Milan; and from the day the 
Venetian lion was raised in the central piazza, the city 
secured almost uninterrupted peace and prosperity. 

In the revival of art Crema developed no school of her 

l'^ Pante's Purgatory, canto VI ; Gary's Trans. 



LODI AND CREMA 311 

own; but she gave birth to several eminent painters, the 
chief of w^hom v^as the great Vincenzo Civerchio, — w^hose 
work I had last met with at Brescia and Bergamo. He 
belonged properly to the Venetian school, and passed a large 
part of his life at Milan, where *' he educated several ex- 
cellent pupils for that school, and with the exception of 
Vinci, is the best entitled of any master to its gratitude." ^^ 
Yet he also resided to some extent at his native place, adorn- 
ing its churches with his beautiful pictures; amongst which 
half a dozen were still to be seen as late as two score years 
ago. All are dispersed today, except his masterpiece in the 
Duomo. An authentic story is related, that when the French 
seized Crema in their conquest of Lombardy, so delighted 
were the officers with one of Civerchio's paintings then hang- 
ing in the Municipio, that they sent it by a special messenger 
to their sovereign, Francis I. Of the other native artists, 
the principal were GIov. da Monte, a pupil of Titian, and 
Carlo Urblnl, of the decadent period; both of whom lived 
and laboured m.ostly at Milan. 

As my rickety little train approached the city, we traversed 
the suburban village of Ombriano, about a mile from the 
western gate, passing before the splendid renaissance palace, 
set amongst charming grounds, which forms the residence of 
the prominent Senator Rossi. After a stop near that gate, 
we crawled in a semicircle around the southern walls, coming 
to a final rest on the eastern side. There the tall brick 
ramparts, still in excellent preservation, were pierced by a 
large stuccoed gateway of the Renaissance period, — the 
Porta Serlo, decadent in style, with a couple of statues sur- 
mounting Its cornice. From It extended a pleasant modern 
park, on the site of a section of the outer wall and moat, 
northward under avenues of shade-trees, to the railroad 

isLanzi's "History of Painting," Vol. II. 



312 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

station at the town's northeastern corner: a station on the 
branch line from Cremona to Trevlglio and Bergamo. 

Immediately within the gateway opened the Piazza Gari- 
baldi, with a standing marble statue of that patriot in its cen- 
tre; there the inner fagade of Porta Serio loomed majestically 
upon two rusticated piers and two enormous ionic columns, 
with its heavy cornice crowned by four corresponding statues 
of heroes in ancient Roman garb; and thence the main 
thoroughfare, Via Mazzini, led me directly westward be- 
tween plain stuccoed buildings, two to five centuries in age. 
It was about 30 feet in width, paved with small cobbles, and 
lined at the sides by narrow flagged walks, as well as paths 
for the omnipresent bicycles that today crowd the streets of 
every Italian plain-town. Straight ahead at the end loomed 
a lofty brick tower of graceful design, — the famous campanile 
of the Duomo. I soon reached the city's centre, at the in- 
tersection of the chief north and south thoroughfare. Via 
Vittorio Emanuele; beyond which my way widened into 
the piazza of the Duomo, aged and picturesque, stretching 
along the southern side of the mighty edifice. 

The building from this view-point was a mountain of 
yellow brick, its nave higher than the aisles, the straight 
wall of the latter pierced by curious fan-shaped windows 
just under the arcaded terracotta cornice; midway it held 
a rectangular portal, in a baroque, stucco frame of later 
date; heavy buttresses projected from its lower roof to sus- 
tain the wall of the nave, which was broken by round-arched 
clerestory windows, and decorated with a beautiful gothic 
arcaded frieze, upon innumerable, baseless little columns. 
At the farther end towered the huge facade, westward turned, 
twice the height of the lower roof, as to which it formed one 
of those pompous shams so distasteful to the late Mr. Street. 
At the nearer end — looking from the southeastern corner — 



LODI AND CREMA 31 3 

soared the superb bell-tower far into the sky, tier upon tier of 
lovely windows and colonnades, — a magnificent, inspiring 
spectacle. 

Now I could understand the fame of this tower, as one 
of the greatest Lombard creations in brick and terracotta. 
Symonds was justly enthusiastic over this '' delicately fin- 
ished campanilej built of choicely tinted yellow bricks, and 
ending in a lantern of the gracefullest, most airily capricious 
fancy. — It has a character of elegance, combined with the 
boldness of invention, that justifies the citizens of Crema 
in their pride. It is unique; and he who has not seen it 
does not know the whole resources of the Lombard style.^^ 
Square in shape till near the top, subdivided by charming 
arcaded cornices, pointed or interwoven, of gleaming red 
terracotta, no window breaks it until the fifth division, where 
there appear two upon each side, round-arched and prettily 
recessed with brick mouldings; while the sixth stage, or 
belfry, is adorned with triple arches resting on glistening 
marble shafts, crowned by a broad interwoven frieze of 
contrasting crimson. From its heavy cornice rises a parapet 
made of four cylindrical pinnacles on each side, connected 
by low arches; within which soars the octagonal upper 
tower, two stages in height, the second consisting of an 
exquisite marble colonnade, supporting two little round 
arches per side. Above this, the crimson frieze, heavy cornice, 
and pinnacled parapet are deftly repeated, with striking 
effect, and the tower merges into a conical red spire, with 
a far, truncated summit. This most clever intermixture of 
the three materials and colours, causes each to embellish and 
bring out the line-harmonies of the others, with an effect in 
the ensemble too enchanting to be well described. 

The old piazza upon which this campanile looks is 

19 J. A. Symonds' " Sketches ^nd Studies in Italy." 



314 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

an excellent setting for its picturesqueness ; mediaeval too, 
in its long colonnade of worn, granite shafts upholding the 
row of ancient buildings along the southern side, upon whose 
shady corridor open quaint little dusky shops and table- 
exuding cafes. At the western end rose a tall ornate stuc- 
coed archway, of the Renaissance period, topped with two 
solid stories, under which the street made exit in that direc- 
tion; the top story consisted of a large square clock-face, 
flanked by a couple of statues in niches, and surmounted by 
an airy cupola. This was the clock-tower of the city. It 
was sandwiched closely between other arcaded buildings, 
old and stuccoed, which continued the colonnade before the 
face of the Cathedral. 

Here there opened, I found, a deep northern bay from the 
piazza, upon which the Duomo looked, and along whose left 
side extended a large palace, with handsome cotta mouldings 
and cornice to its arcade, and a series of fine renaissance 
windows overhead, round-arched upon stone columns. At 
the end rose the Palazzo Municipale, with a heavy square 
tower, upon whose stuccoed face lingered still, to my delight, 
the old familiar relief of the Venetian Lion, beneath some 
remains of frescoing that once represented a dial surrounded 
by human figures. Here also, just upon the Duomo's left, 
stood the contiguous Palazzo Vescovile, with the same 
ground arcade adorned with cotta mouldings. Under the 
arcade of the Municipio I observed a number of busts to 
Crema's chief heroes of the past, and a tablet to her fallen 
soldiers; its first floor was reached by a quaint outer stair- 
way, leading from a narrow street that departed under the 
building. But these observations were subsequent; for 
dwarfing everything else in this portion of the piazza, and 
demanding instant attention when I entered it, was the vast, 



LODI AND CREMA 315 

imposing fagade of the Cathedral, the corollary of its bell- 
tower in beauty and interest. 

Here again was the body of wagn yellow brick, with 
decorative details of terracotta and marble. The latter ele- 
ment was used for the gothic portal, the handsome rose- 
window, and the level Lombard colonnade, characteristic but 
exceptionally rich, that extended its hundred glistening col- 
umns beneath the cornice of the flat gable ; these were fully six 
feet in height, and placed about one and a half feet apart, 
with crude foliated caps, very small bases, and curious cu- 
bical abacuses, the like of which I remember nowhere else; 
they supported little rounded brick arches, and stood In a 
long recess, which thus formed a shallow gallery. Beneath 
their projecting basic ledge, and again above them, just under 
the slight cornice, stretched two splendid friezes of crimson 
terracotta, of Interwoven arcades, glowing the more richly 
by contrast with the marble colonnade. Below this fascin- 
ating crown of the fagade, three great recessed arches ex- 
tended from one corner buttress to the other, framed in nu- 
merous cotta mouldings, supported in the middle by two 
lofty half-colum.ns of brick; In this unusual manner the 
front was divided into three compartments, of which the 
central was considerably the wider. 

This central compartment held the single doorway, which 
though round-arched was gothic In design, deeply recessed be- 
tween clustered slender shafts with typical gothic capitals; 
In the tympanum stood three antique statuettes, of the Ma- 
donna between two saints. Well above It hung the beautiful 
rose-window, also of marble, with Its airy tracery of St. 
Catherine's wheel ; and over that again, in the lunette of the 
middle compartment, a double-arched gothic window in an 
exquisite terracotta frame. The windows in the side divi- 



3i6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

sions were much like the last: the two lower being round- 
arched and recessed six-fold, the two upper being pointed, and 
enclosed by rows of fancy plaques; all four were superb 
examples of the finest cotta decoration. The last pair men- 
tioned were peculiar, in that they opened upon naught but 
the blue sky, above the aisles; and they differed in form, for 
one was charmingly trifoliate, while the other consisted 
strangely of two circles of tracery, one upon the other. 

It was of all this delicate and delightful cotta-work that 
Symonds thought when he wrote : " What the clay can do 
almost better than any crystalline material, may be seen in 
the mouldings so characteristic of Lombard architecture. 
Geometrical patterns of the rarest and most fanciful de- 
vices; scrolls of acanthus foliage, and traceries of tendrils; 
Cupids swinging in festoons of vines; angels joining hands 
in dance ; — ornaments like these, wrought from the plastic 
clay, and adapted with true taste to the requirements of the 
architecture, are familiar to every one who has studied the 
church front of Crema, the cloisters of the Certosa, — or the 
public palace of Cremona. — The fagade of the Cathedral 
displays that peculiar blend of byzantine or romanesque 
round arches with gothic details in the windows, and with 
the acute [sic] angle of the central pitch, which forms the 
characteristic quality of the late trecento Lombard man- 
ner." 

Before visiting the interior I turned for lunch across the 
piazza to that old and well known hostelry, the Albergo del 
Pozzo, whither my luggage had some time preceded me on 
a porter's shoulder. It is located at the square's southwest- 
ern corner, next the clock-tower, approached down a dark 
and narrow cul-de-sac; formerly " one of those queer Italian 
inns, which carry you away at once into a scene of Goldoni's 
— a part of some palace where nobles housed their bravi 



LODI AND CREMA 317 

in the i6th century." I say formerly, because I found that 
the craze for newness and restoration had reached even here, 
altering the old house for modern Ideas, and adding the word 
" Nuovo ■'■' to the ancient name. 

After lunch, and a little rest, I entered the Cathedral, 
finding its long and lofty nave covered with gothic vaulting 
divided Into bays, and supported by massive stucco piers, 
faced with corinthlan half-columns; the latter, uncomforta- 
bly renaissance in form, reached to a heavy, gilded cornice 
that was more so; round arches connected the piers, but the 
lower, narrow aisles again were roofed with pointed vault- 
ing, carrying side-altars ensconced in shallow recesses. 
Round the apsidal, slightly elevated choir the classic half- 
columns and gilded cornice were continued, but at Its sides 
the aisles remained at their original level ; — a bewildering 
mixture of the gothic, renaissance and romanesque. The 
marble pavement was tessellated In grey and white; and the 
organ-loft was perched over the front entrance, behind a 
handsomely carved and gilded wooden railing, adorned with 
cherubs as caryatides. So, although the dimensions and 
proportions of the building were imposing and symmetrical, 
they were greatly spoiled by the anomalous jumble of difEer- 
ent styles, due to its unfortunate " restoration " in the de- 
cadent period. 

Immediately to left of the entrance there hung a pleasing 
canvas of the Annunciation, warmly toned and gracefully 
drawn, and to right, a Visitation, also well composed, with a 
dusky landscape ; both being works of the tinquecento CampI 
family, of Cremona, — who, though not alone in their glory, 
played in this district the same part as did the Piazza family 
at Lodl. Galeazzo Campi, the father, flourished from about 
1500 to 1536; and was succeeded by his more brilliant 
sons, Glullo, Vincenzo and Antonio, with their cousin Ber- 



3i8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

nardino, of whom the former considerably surpassed the 
others in genius and decorative skill, raising their name to 
the front rank in Lombard art. 

At the beginning of the right aisle sat a modern statue of 
Pope Pius IX. Modern also was the brightly stained glass 
in the front windows, which percolated the dusk with gay- 
hued shafts. Over the first altar to left stood an interesting 
but injured quattrocento pala, covered with glass, of un- 
known authorship: the Holy Family, with St. John the 
Baptist, and a quaint little angel. Over the second altar 
stood Civerchio's remaining masterpiece, which he executed 
in 15 19: a group of three lifesize standing figures, — Sts. 
Roch, Christopher and Sebastian. 

These forms, though not particularly graceful or pleas- 
ing, were distinguished by the master's usual power of mod- 
elling, vigorous treatment, and force of expression, — all the 
qualities that made him such a leader of his time. But of 
pietistic atmosphere there was none, and of decorativeness 
hardly an apparent effort, excepting the St. Roch's em- 
broidered and finely executed vestment. The certain charm 
that his work nevertheless undeniably possesses, consists in 
its beautiful tone, excellent anatomy and strong tactile values; 
which leave the unescapable impression of a sure, a sapient, 
and a powerful hand. — Besides these there was no other ob- 
ject of note in the Cathedral, beyond the adjacent modern 
monument to the musician Benzi, which had a really en- 
chanting relief of St. Cecilia playing upon her organ, rapt 
in mystic and reverential contemplation. 

Traversing now the archway of the municipal clock-tower, 
whose farther side was considerably more adorned, with 
classic mouldings, cornice, etc., I followed the winding west- 
ern thoroughfare to the gate at its end, the Porta Ombriano, 
which proved to be quite a striking renaissance structure, of 



LODI AND CREMA 319 

stucco simulating stone, its main arch being framed by four 
ponderous, fluted, doric columns, upholding a heavy pedi- 
ment of the same order. The sides of the face were rusti- 
cated, and pierced by curious little archways for pedestrians, 
of Moorish, horseshoe type; above which perched a couple 
of busts, in deep, oval niches. Retracing then my steps, I 
hunted up the remaining solitary specimen of the Piazza school 
in Crema, a Madonna with Sts. Peter, Paul, Roch and Se- 
bastian, located in the uninteresting church of SS. Trinita; 
executed by Calisto about 1535, it exhibited his usual qual- 
ities of pleasing fullness of form, grace of pose and dispo- 
sition, and richness of tone and colour. 

After that I repaired again to the eastern gate, and fol- 
lowing the shady parkway without, proceeded along the 
northern road past the station, some three-quarters of a mile 
farther, to the handsome pilgrimage church of S. Maria 
della Croce; which occupies somewhat the same artistic re- 
lation to Crema that the Incoronata does to Lodi. Curi- 
ously enough, it was likewise built by Giov. Battaggia, and 
in the same Bramantesque design, — in fact one of the most 
elegant buildings (according to Ricci) ever erected in the 
Bramantesque style. It was not so lavishly embellished 
with painting, but was given some lustrous palas by the 
Campi, and endowed with the beautiful exterior lacking to 
the Incoronata, — an exterior at once majestic, strikingly 
graceful, and decorated with a mass of the richest and most 
elaborate details. 

It was visible for some distance, framed in the vista of the 
tall horsechestnut trees lining the avenue of approach, — a 
charming picture in its variegated bright hues of yellow 
brick, crimson terracotta, and glistening white marble and 
stucco. The Bramantesque rotunda, constituting the main 
body of the edifice, towered to a lofty height in four ornate 



320 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

stages, its low-pitched roof capped with a dainty, tapering 
lantern; and affixed to this drum were four equidistant por- 
ticoes, two stories in height, each crowned orientally with a 
group of five domes, of which the central was always much 
larger than the other four. The top stage of the main body 
was encircled by a beautiful arcaded gallery, with a gleam- 
ing multitude of slender marble columns; terracotta mould- 
ings framed the trefoil arches, and the sustaining parapet 
consisted of a series of diverse open-work panels, delight- 
fully wrought in terracotta, with figures of wheels, crosses, 
and stars simple or flamboyant. The third story was also 
an arcaded gallery, of double round arches on brick pillars, 
enclosed in handsome cotta mouldings and bearing cotta 
medallions in the lunettes, with a parapet similar to that 
above. The effect of these two arcades was indescribably 
graceful and pleasing, in spite of the false note struck in 
plastering and whitewashing the brickwork of all the span- 
drels. The same trick had been played upon the frames 
of the rectangular windows occupying the lower stories ; oth- 
erwise these stories and the porticoes — they might better, 
perhaps, be styled pavilions — displayed the yellow-brick 
unaltered. It was certainly a most singular and interesting 
structure, perfectly exemplifying the extent to which the 
Renaissance builders of this region made use of the earlier 
Lombard manner, — so much so as to constitute but a modifi- 
cation of the latter. 

Entering by the western portico, I found the usual oc- 
tagonal rotunda, surrounded by decorative stucco archways, 
three of which serve for ingresses, a fourth for the small 
tribune, and the others — covering the diagonal corners — 
for altar-recesses. The queer little tribune occupied the east- 
ern pavilion, raised about seven feet, and approached by two 
small stairways, with a grating between them through which 



LODI AND CREMA 321 

was visible the tiny crypt below. Overhead circled the ar- 
caded windows, two per side, framed in painted stucco pilas- 
ters; and still higher, soared the dome, frescoed with a 
baroque paradise. As a whole, it was a charming structure, 
thoroughly consonant and well proportioned; though not to 
be compared with Lodi's Incoronata. The paintings were 
but four, over the corner altars: a St. Veronica wiping the 
face of the fallen Christ, a Deposition, with seven lifesize 
figures, an Adoration of the Shepherds, lighted only by the 
luminous Child, and an exceptionally fine Adoration of 
the Magi, of splendid tone and atmosphere, containing a 
most lovely, rounded Madonna. All were executed by the 
Campi, in their usual voluptuous moulding and Venetian 
glow and colouring ; and they illumined the church with their 
glory of holy figures and lustrous dramatic scenes. 

In the country surrounding Crema I had now two little 
places to visit. The first, Soncino, was a village about ten 
miles to the east, upon the Oglio, — attainable only by driv- 
ing or taking the steam tramway, along the high-road lead- 
ing to Brescia. It was here, on May 17, 143 1, that Cat- 
magnola allowed himself to be taken napping by Fran. 
Sforza, suffering the loss of 1,600 cavalry and barely escap- 
ing with his life: the first of those disasters which excited 
the ire of the Venetian Senate, and resulted finally in his 
fearful death. By making an early start on the following 
morning I was able to accomplish my devoir and return by 
sunset. Though so small and remote, Soncino, as I found, 
possesses a number of interesting buildings of the high- 
Renaissance, due to the villeggiatura sought there for several 
years by Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza. They consist 
chiefly, to be brief, of the summer palace built for the Duke 
by Benedetto Farini, 1470-75, — once a striking edifice, in 
the renaissance style inaugurated by Filarete, but now ruin- 



322 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ous and given over to commoner uses; of the Palazzo Viala, 
erected about the same time for one of the noble Milanese 
families, and distinguished by the beauty of its terracotta 
decorations; and of the church of S. Maria delle Grazie, 
constructed in Lodovico's reign, which is adorned with a 
handsome series of frescoes by Giulio Campi, executed in his 
customary ornate style, shortly after 1530. — Four miles 
north of the village, at Torre Pallavicina, is another and 
more interesting series of paintings by the Campi, because 
adorning the stately rooms of the Villa Barbi, and hence 
devoted to those classical subjects for which their manner 
was more especially fitted. That they were splendid dec- 
orators IS shown in these happy works. To include them 
in the same day's trip, one should start from Crema in car- 
riage or motor-car, not relying on the tram. 

The other place, Castelleone, could be taken by me en 
route to Cremona; for it lies half a dozen miles southeast 
of Crema, upon the railroad, and I had only therefore to 
stop off a train. It contains but one object of notable in- 
terest, but that is an object of memorable beauty: the splen- 
did, richly tinted altar-piece In its church of the Incoronata 
that was executed by Martino and Albertino Piazza, — " in 
which," said Layard, " especially in the lower series of pic- 
tures [for it is a polytych, like their works at Lodi] scarcely 
anything is left to be desired in point of correct and beauti- 
ful drawing." ^* 

The same morning that saw me at Castelleone, found me, 
as it drew near to noon, entering by the train that glorious 
old city of the plain to which my eyes had so long been 
eagerly cast forward, — the city of the great Torrazzo, and 
greater Cathedral, of Boccaccino, Melone, Gatti, and the 
Campi, of the ideal Piazza of the Middle Ages, and the 

2*>Layard's "Handbook of Painting." 



LODI AND CREMA 323 

masterpieces of Lombard architecture in brick and terra- 
cotta, — which justly indeed may be called Cremona the 
Captivating.^^ 

21 Cremona the Contentious, however, — to preserve the allitera- 
tion, for want of better or more storied adjectives, — would still 
more adequately describe the city, when bearing in mind its char- 
acter, derived from centuries of strife both internecine and external, 
which was the most bellicose of the plain. 



CHAPTER X 

CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 

"But hisi new kingdom leaving to his band, 
Far other destiny awaits that throng; 
For with the Mantuan's friendly succour manned, 
Gonsalvo to the war returns so strong, 
He leaves not in a few months, by sea or land. 
One living head, his slaughtering troops among." 

Ariosto's " Orlando Furioso." 

" HuNC exftum Cremona habult — bellls externis Intacta, 
civilibus inf ellx," — wrote Tacitus ; and, as has so often been 
observed, the remark continued to characterise the city's 
history down to modern times. Originally the capital town 
of the Celtic tribe of the CenomanI, from whom the name 
was perhaps derived, at the end of the fierce struggle by 
which Rome first conquered the Celts and took possession of 
Lombardy Cremona was made a legionary camp, and a mili- 
tary settlement second only In Importance to Placentla. 
The chaos of the second Punic War quickly followed; but 
so strongly had the place been fortified, that Hannibal, after 
testing its powers of resistance, was obliged to leave it behind 
him uncaptured. When this peril was ended Cremona was 
again invested, in B. C. 200, by the revolting Boil and In- 
subres. " A great battle before the city ended in the over- 
throw of the Celts; but the struggle continued, nor was it 
until the Boll and Insubres quarrelled, and the Cenomani 
turned traitors on the field of battle and attacked their old 
allies, that the Insubres submitted." ^ 

1 Louis Xn of France. — Rose's Translation. 

2 Mommsen's " History of Rome," Chap. XVI. 

3H 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 325 

In such turmoil was the city born; which thenceforth 
steadily increased in size and wealth, maintaining its prom- 
inence amongst the leading Roman settlements of the plain. 
But with the Caesarian epoch came evil times: for Cremona's 
adherence to the party of liberty it was punished by the 
second Triumvirate, by the seizure and distribution of its 
lands amongst their legionaries; and a century later, through 
its faithfulness to Vitellius, it was stormed and sacked by the 
soldiers of Vespasian, when the latter was on his triumphant 
way to the imperial throne, — and being set on fire, was 
burned to the ground. Vespasian later made some amends 
by aiding in its rebuilding; and Cremona again flourished, 
till the fall of the Western Empire. Alaric pillaged the city 
of its wealth; Attila seized what the people had left; non- 
resistance in each case saved their dwellings, yet such was 
the general devastation in which they participated, that the 
whole of eastern Lombardy became utterly ruined and al- 
most depopulated, — as St. Ambrose bore witness in his 39th 
Epistle. 

Under the Ostrogoths Cremona and the countryside re- 
vived, only to suffer more desolation from the warfare of 
Justinian, and the conquest of the Lombards, whose monarch 
Agilulf practically laid the city once more in ruins. " In- 
tact " she did remain, through those two centuries of disaster, 
if it be called so to leave standing the bare walls of a small 
part of her structures. The surviving citizens took refuge 
for a time amongst the islands of the Po and the mountains 
of the Apennines. With the 7th century, however, Cre- 
mona began a long era of comparative prosperity, waxing 
especially in the epoch of Lombard municipal independence, 
when, firstly under the rule of her bishops, and after 1080 
as a strong and opulent republic, she indulged in a glory of 
civic building that became the envy of all other towns. 



326 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Using only clay, with rare bits of marble, her artisans 
erected structures whose size and beauty still make us won- 
der, — the finest creations of their kind ; and in the 1 2th 
and 13th centuries they raised that extraordinary group of 
public edifices that are still fortunately preserved, to con- 
stitute the ideal piazza of the Middle Age. 

Like the other cities, however, in proportion as Cremona 
waxed strong and built grandiosely, she suffered from the 
intestinal strife of parties, — nobles and people, Guelfs and 
Ghibellines. There is a law of nature that regulated the 
extent of one by the other, — the law of zealous, determined, 
ambitious character, whose passion for war and politics was 
equalled by that of civic pride. Thus was Cremona " civ- 
ilibus infelix," and torn by generations of internecine strug- 
gle. But the Ghibellines had the upper hand, and directed 
the city's policy uniformly to the support of PaviaanoTim-' 
perialism, sending her militia to the front in every crisis of 
the period. They supported Barbarossa enthusiastically in 
his various designs, taking a prominent part in the destruc- 
tions of Crema and Milan. But the ensuing reaction over- 
whelmed Cremona with the rest, giving the Guelfs of the 
city their turn; so that at Pontida " the deputies of the Cre- 
monese, who had lent their aid to the destruction of Milan, 
seconded those of the Milanese villages in imploring aid 
of the confederated towns to rebuild the city of Milan." ^ 

By the time of Frederick II Cremona had returned to her 
imperial allegiance, and helped largely in inflicting the terri- 
ble defeat of Ghibello, in 12 18, upon the Guelfic league 
headed by Milan. In 1226 she refused to join in the gen- 
eral renewal of the Lombard League. Yet at home, mean- 
while, the struggles between the factions were never so 
fierce, the nobles of course taking the Ghibelline side and 

3 Sismondi's " Italian Republics." 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 327 

the people the Pope's; for forty years the streets of the city 
were regularly drenched in blood from their fratricidal com- 
bats, and scattered with the bricks of demolished houses. 
This continued after the death of Frederick II, until a 
strong man finally emerged from the ranks of the noble 
Ghibellines to make himself master of the town; this was 
Buoso da Doara, the friend and ally of Ezzelino da Ro- 
mano. His treachery to the latter, in 1259, was a main 
cause of Ezzelino's downfall; after which the Marchese 
Pallavicino, of San Donnino, became the head of the Lom- 
bard imperialist party, and was elected by the citizens to be 
overlord of Cremona, with Buoso as his acting viceroy. The 
Guelfic popolo grosso soon again made trouble, and might 
have unseated Buoso had he not been aided by Mastino I, 
della Scala, whose hands vainly itched for the possession of 
the rich city. 

Again the wheel of fortune turned, bringing the Guelfs 
on top throughout Italy, owing to the defeat and death of 
the young Emperor Conradin, Frederick's grandson, at the 
hands of Charles of Anjou, the new conqueror of Naples. 
Charles thereupon, with the Pope's direction, placed himself 
at the head of the papal party, and, coming to Lombardy, 
gathered at Cremona a diet of the northern cities; in 1269 
Cremona, Ferrara, and a few other towns invested him 
with their lordship; and for several years he swayed a fair 
part of Italy as papal and imperial vicar. In 1277, by an- 
other revolution of the wheel, Charles was forced by a new 
pope to resign his northern lordships; the Ghibellines strug- 
gled once more to the ascendency in Lombardy, and the 
Visconti usurped the tyranny of Milan. 

Otho Visconti proceeded to Lodi and Cremona, where he 
was enthusiastically received, and " formed anew the coun- 
cils of these republics, admitting only Ghibellines and nobles ; 



328 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

who, ruined by a long exile, and often supported by the lib- 
erality of the Archbishop, were become humble and obse- 
quious; their deference degenerated into submission." Thus 
did Cremona lose her independence. The Visconti never 
but temporarily loosened the grip they had acquired.* Azzo, 
when he had purchased the duchy of Milan from Emperor 
Louis in 1328, made Cremona an integral part of his do- 
minions; and thie noble family of Cavalcabo became the 
Visconti deputies, tyrannising over their fellow-citizens with 
unrestricted power. In 1395 the city was formally included 
in the grant of a more extensive duchy, made by Emperor 
Wenceslaus to Gian Galeazzo. When the latter died, the 
resulting chaos was taken advantage of at Cremona for the 
perpetration of one of the greatest and most frightful crimes 
of the Renaissance era. 

The Cavalcabo first seized the opportunity to make them- 
selves independent despots, under their chief, Ugolino, who 
for some time signed himself Lord of Cremona. Locally, 
he felt secure; for his family was preponderantly rich and 
powerful, and numbered nearly a hundred members alto- 
gether. But he had a noble friend, Gabrino Fondulo, who 
was also wealthy and secretly ambitious. Taking advantage 
of the long-trusted friendship with which he was regarded, 
this unparalleled villain one day in 1406 gathered nearly 
the whole clan of Cavalcabo at his private palace of Ma- 
castorno, under an invitation to a grand entertainment; the 
very pains which he took to have every one of the ruling race 
present, would at once have aroused suspicion in that age, 
had it not been for the extreme confidence with which they 

*In 1 3 10, on account of Cremona's transitory reversal to the 
Guelfic cause, she was captured by the Emperor Henry VII, and 
for three days given over to pillage and destruction. The bloody in- 
ternecine conflicts nevertheless continued, until Azzo's lordship. 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 329 

had for years rewarded his devoted attachment. A very few 
by chance only escaped the deadly snare, including a grown 
son of the despot. At a given signal, when the guests had 
been long at table, having laid aside their swords and become 
filled with wine, their host's concealed bravos rushed in to 
the work of murder, butchering men, women and children 
alike, while others held the doors. 

Seventy Cavalcabo were slaughtered in this unprecedented 
crime, and their bodies afterward thrown into carts, to be 
drawn through the streets of Cremona, exposed and quar- 
tered in the Piazza, and finally consumed upon a huge pyre, 
around which the people danced. Fondulo's self-declared 
lordship was perforce accepted ; and he ruled with vigour for 
thirteen years, holding and extending his power by ferocity 
and guile. In 14 14 he received a joint visit from Emperor 
Sigismund and Pope John XXIII; which shows that he had 
attained an assured position of some importance. But his 
fate, though delayed, arrived at last: defeated in 1424 by the 
forces of Filippo Maria, now engaged in recovering his 
.father's domains, Fondulo was captured and taken to Milan; 
where, after due tortures and exposure, he was beheaded as 
a murderer and traitor. 

During the succeeding warfare between Filippo Maria 
and Venice, Cremona was the object, between 1427 and 
1 43 1, of several efforts for its capture by the latter, — Car- 
magnola heading the Republic's forces and Carlo Malatesta 
the defending Milanese. On May 21, 1427, the Visconti 
fleet was defeated and burned by the Venetian, onethe waters 
of the Po before the city. On another occasion an encounter 
of the land forces witnessed that famous and horrible deed 
of Malatesta, which Ouida referred to in her " Pascarel " as 
" that dreadful ditch — filled up with bleeding and stifled 
peasants, thrust into a living death, that the knights might 



330 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

spur their horses In safety over the chasm, while Carlo Mala- 
testa's golden mantle fluttered in all the pride of war." 
Here it was, too, that Bart. Colleoni won his first renown, 
by a redoubtable exploit executed in company with that son 
of Ugolino Cavalcabo who had escaped Fondulo's clutches. 
The former had but shortly entered the Venetian service, as 
a captain of forty horse; and the latter was vainly seeking 
to recover his inheritance, with the assistance of faithful 
friends within the city. 

" Bartolomeo and Cavalcabo — approached the walls by 
tilght, with great precaution, and, on that side where they 
had been informed the defences were weakest, placed their 
ladders. Bartolomeo was the first ' con intrepidissimo 
animo/ to ascend the wall and to occupy the tower of San 
Luca, having killed the commander and the guards. News 
was sent at once to Carmagnola of this success ; upon which, 
had he hastened to Cremona, without doubt It would have 
fallen. — The young adventurers held the tower for three 
days, — but finally were obliged to descend and return to 
the army." ^ Such was the narrow escape of the ancient 
city from being taken by assault, and plundered; and such 
the beginning of Colleoni's great career. 

Filippo Maria kept his grip on Cremona, until, In 1441, 
It was ceded by him to Fran. Sforza, as the principal asset 
of the dowry of his daughter Bianca. Thus it became the 
first lordship of the Sforzas, and was never relinquished by 
them until Lodovico's fall. They therefore always cher- 
ished for the city a peculiar affection, which seems to have 
been returned, — for their rule here was benevolent. We 
read that In 1464 " Lodovico was sent by his father to Cre- 
mona — whose inhabitants were among the most loyal sub- 
jects of the Sforza princes. Here he lived during the next 

5 Mrs. Oliphant's " Makers of Venice." 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 331 

two years, enjoying his foretaste of power, and making him- 
self very popular." ® After the death of Duke Francesco, 
when the widowed Bianca found herself treated by her son 
Galeazzo with ungrateful severity, it was to her beloved 
Cremona that she withdrew, in Oct., 1468; "where she 
died a week after her arrival — ' more from sorrow of heart 
than sickness of body,' wrote the doctor." 

Upon the dethronement of Lodovico, the Venetians, who 
were leagued with Louis XII against Milan, at once seized 
with avidity upon the long coveted prey, making entry with 
their army into Cremona on Sept, 10, 1499. " Thus at 
last the Republic crossed the Adda and fulfilled a desire 
which she had nursed from the days — of Carmagnola's 
victory of Macalo." '' Louis finally conceded to Venice 
this corner of the Sforza domains, and took the rest for him- 
self. It was this very concession, the solitary exception to 
his conquest, that moved the greedy monarch in 1508 to 
unite with Austria and the Papacy in the League of Cam- 
brai ; the final result of which was the bringing of the Span- 
iards into the quarrel, under the devastating Gonsalvo, and 
Louis' loss of everything he had gained. Cremona suffered 
under the occupation of Louis' troops from 1509 to 15 12, 
and subsequently, under the troops of Francis I, from 15 15 
to 1522. In the latter year it was the scene of the final 
capitulation of the French army of occupation, under Les- 
cun, to the Spaniards and their allies, who misused the city 
even worse than had the Gallic enemy. 

This practically ended the French power in Lombardy, 
for 200 years. But when they returned in 1702,® during 

^ Julia Cartwright's "Beatrice d'Este." 
■^ Brown's " History of the Venetian Republic." 
8 During this Intervening period, from 1 522-1702, Cremona under 
the government of Charles V and his successors " lost all riches, 



332 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the war of the Spanish Succession, Cremona at once became 
again the battleground and object of contention: Villari 
occupied it with the French Army; Prince Eugene took it 
from them by a surprise attack, making Villari prisoner, 
and the French then in their turn soon recaptured the city 
by assault. All of which completed the ruin of the people. 
They had not then, and have not to this day, recovered from 
the terrible disasters of the early cinquecento, especially the 
devastations of Gonsalvo and his Spaniards, which reduced 
the rich and populous city, like the rest of Lombardy, to an 
almost uninhabited waste. Its grand old public buildings, 
in both conflicts, fortunately escaped destruction; but the 
population is now only some 37,000, — but a half, or less, 
of its size in the palmy days of the Renaissance. 

" O fierce and hungry harpies, that on blind 
And erring Italy so full have fed! 
Whom, for the scourge of ancient sins designed, 
Haply just Heaven to every board has sped. 
Innocent children, pious mothers, pined 
With hunger, die, and see their daily bread, — 
The orphan's and the widow's scanty food — 
Feed for a single feast that filthy brood." ^ 

In those same palmy days Cremona was a notable centre 
of art, renowned for her splendid architecture and her eclec- 
tic school of painting. From the earliest times her people 
displayed a remarkable love of the beautiful and an excep- 
tional enthusiasm for its culture. They showed this in 
1 107, when they founded their great Cathedral upon lines 

power, liberty. Industry and commerce," and became " reduced to 
the ultimate ruin, — a miserable borough of mendicants, sad, inert, 
and savage like their territory." — Illustrazione Storica, etc., di 
Cremona. 
^ Rose's Translation of Ariosto. 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 333 

so magnificent; in the succeeding generations, when they 
made such sacrifices for its building and adornment, and for 
the erection of the Baptistery, the Torrazzo, and the Palazzo 
Pubblico; and again when the Duomo was finished, "which 
as speedily as possible was decorated with ^11 that sculpture 
and painting could afford." From age to age they continued 
that decoration, the successive generations of local artists 
all labouring upon the beloved edifice ; so that today we may 
read upon its grand old walls the story of Cremona's artistic 
progression. As Corrado Ricci says, — in his " Art of North- 
ern Italy," — " Cremona was, of all the Lombard cities, the 
one which produced the largest and most compact group of 
painters." But we must in justice go much farther than 
this : it was a group of fascinating individuality and wonder- 
ful power, surpassed in its numerous works by the schools 
of Venice and Verona alone, — a group whose productions 
were of such remarkable beauty, force and versatility, that 
it is high time the world accorded it its proper rank in the 
halls of fame. 

In some fragmentary frescoes upon the cathedral's vault- 
ing may be discerned the primitive workmanship of the 
early Casella, said to have been placed there by him in the 
year 1345. In the earlier and middle quattrocento the chief 
Cremonese artist was Cristoforo Moretti, who " was one of 
the reformers of art in Lombardy, and particularly the 
branches of perspective and design." ^^ In the latter part of 
that century appeared the master who was the true founder 
of the Cremona school, — the great Boccaccio Boccaccino, 
(1460-1524) who "bears the same character among the 
Cremonese as Ghirlandajo \_sic~\, Mantegna, Vannucci, and 
Francia, in their respective schools; the best modern among 

^^ Lanzi's " History of Painting." 



334 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the ancients, and the best of the ancients In the list of the 
moderns." ^^^ He was one of that momentous circle of 
originators who learned to paint In the Venetian studio of 
Glan Bellini; but, on coming forth, other and more distinc- 
tively Lombard Influences mingled with his style, which 
gradually received the impress of his unique and vivid per- 
sonality. 

According to Pascoll, Boccaccino also studied awhile un- 
der Perugino; which would seem to be borne out by the 
resemblance to that master's work in his composition and his 
figures, endowed with an Umbrlan repose and tender sim- 
plicity. "He is a painter" — wrote Layard — *' of very 
distinct individuality, and may be easily recognised by the 
peculiar type and expression of his figures, and especially by 
his women, w^ho generally have much grace and beauty. — 
His pictures are generally gay in colour, and he is fond of 
introducing into them rich velvet draperies — with carefully 
executed and elegant details and embroideries." ^^ He was 
employed in the Duomo from 1506 to 15 18, in working upon 
the great series of frescoes that form a mighty frieze around 
the nave; and with him were engaged, upon the same work, 
his pupils Altobello Melone and Glan Fran. Bembo. 
Neither of these men were his equals in genius, nor did 
they follow his style. The former preferred the manner- 
isms of Romanino, under whom he studied, also, — while 
that master was painting his frescoes in the Duomo. Vasari 
called Melone's work truly beautiful, although his wall- 

lo^Lanzi's "History of Painting." 

11 Layard's " Handbook of Painting." According to Rio (Poetry 
of Christian Art) Boccaccino's study of Perugino's methods was 
made simply from the famous Madonna with saints which the lat- 
ter artist sent to S. Agostino in 1494, and probably from the splen- 
did polyptich executed for the Certosa. By these works Boccaccino 
was irresistibly and passionately attracted. 




Ed. Alinari 



THE CATHEDRAL OF CREMONA 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 335 

decorations were so tamely coloured as to give them the look 
of tapestry. " But " — said Lanzi — " he excelled in his 
oil painting, — coloured with equal softness and strength. 
His knowledge of the naked figure is beyond that of his age, 
combined with a grace of features and of attitudes that con- 
veys the idea of a great master." 

Romanino and Pordenone were the two exceptions to local 
talent called to decorate the Cathedral. Each of them 
adorned it with several large histories from the Sacred 
Story; and those of Pordenone upon the Passion are not only 
perhaps the grandest pictures in Cremona, but are esteemed 
his chief masterpieces in fresco. Considering his pre-eminent 
ability in that line, and how very few of his frescoes remain 
to us, no student of the art should miss enjoying these chefs 
d'oeuvres so fortunately preserved, which have been cele- 
brated during four centuries for their unsurpassed power 
and dramatic expression. Their influence was the decisive 
factor in Bembo's life, and shines reflected in his style, which 
became realistic, forceful, of vigorous modelling and accurate 
drawing. His elder brother, Bonifazio, was also an artist 
of some importance. 

There were a number of good Cremonese painters of this 
first generation of the cinquecento, who did not work upon 
the Duomo; chief among them Tom.maso Aleni and Gale- 
azzo Campi. But the latter's title to fame rests mainly in 
his being the father of the great Campi family, who in the 
next generation assumed the leadership of art in Cremona, 
and attained to such eminence that Lanzi has bracketed 
them with Leonardo and Correggio as the chief founders of 
Lombard painting. Giulio, the eldest son, was endowed 
with far more genius than the others, and became the head 
of the family and their school. His father, early perceiving 
his extraordinary talent, and feeling unequal to guiding it 



336 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

himself, sent him first to the school of Giulio Romano, at 
Mantua, where the j^outh studied painting, sculpture and 
architecture. " He laid the foundation of his taste and 
principles under Giulio Romano," who, recently returned 
from Rome with his store of Raphaelesque knowledge, was 
then adorning with his beautiful compositions the palaces of 
the Gonzaghi. 

" From him he derived the dignity of his design, his 
knowledge of anatomy, variety and fertility of ideas, mag- 
nificence in his architecture, and a general mastery over every 
subject. To these he added strength, when he visited Rome, 
where he studied Raffaelo and the antiques. — Either at 
Mantua or elsewhere, he studied Titian. — In his native 
state he met with more models, in Pordenone and Soiaro. — 
From such preparatory studies, combined with imitating 
whatever he met with in Raffaelo and Correggio, he acquired 
that style which is found to partake of the manner of so 
many different artists." ^^ For, as the same authority states, 
Giulio had " formed the project of uniting the best qualities 
of a number of styles in one." — This extraordinary and 
comprehensive scheme of eclecticism he not only carried to 
perfect success in himself, but afterward adopted it for the 
training of the many scholars entrusted to the Campi school. — 
*' Giulio surpasses the rest in point of dignity; and he like- 
wise aims at displaying more knowledge, both of the human 
form and of the effects of light and shadows. In correct- 
ness, too, he is superior to his two brothers, though he is not 
equal to Bernardino." 

Antonio Campi studied under his brother, afterward lend- 
ing valuable assistance — both in labouring conjointly, also 
in Individual works of famous beauty — in the painting of the 
numerous canvases for which they were commissioned; 

^2 Lanzi's " History of Painting." 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 337 

which not only fill the churches and palaces of Cremona 
and its district, but also adorn many edifices in Milan and 
other cities. Vincenzo, the third brother, likewise joined 
in this labour; but his ability was second-rate, and when left 
to itself was not equal to large figures, though he excelled 
in minute pictures and in the painting of fruits and flowers. 
The Cathedral at this time was replete with decorations; 
Giulio placed within it a few final tableaux ; but on the whole 
this generation had to turn for its municipal labours to the 
church of S. Sigismondo, — a splendid renaissance edifice 
erected by Duke Francesco Sforza on the eastern outskirts 
of the city. This was the building which became the second 
theatre for local frescoing, " where these artists and their 
descendants, painting as it were in competition, rendered it 
a noble school for the fine arts." 

Bernardino, the fifth of the Campi, a cousin of the last 
three, followed closely in certain respects upon the heels of 
Giulio, from whom he learned the principles of the art. 
By some critics he is even deemed the superior of Giulio. 
More lifelike in his modelling and dispositions, he was yet 
surpassingly graceful in form and gesture, endowing his 
figures with heads of rare beauty, and wrapping them in 
true pietistic repose and feeling. Not eclectic in ideas, his 
model was Raphael, whom he followed on general lines, 
outspokenly, without however becoming a mere imitator. 
His masterpiece is the wonderful fresco in the dome of San 
Sigismondo. He worked mostly alone, not conjointly with 
his cousins; and his canvases are found in many cities. 

But the Campi, however distinguished, had no monopoly 
of Cremonese genius during the middle and later cinque- 
cento; contemporary with them laboured another family of 
painters, uncle and son, possessing abilities fully as great in 
many respects, and surpassing them in others. These were 



338 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the GattI, both surnamed Soiaro, the elder of whom has 
been already mentioned as one of the models of Giullo 
Campi. This elder Gatti, Bernardino, had therefore some 
advantage of the latter in years; neither was he eclectic, but 
a fervent disciple and follower of Correggio, under whom he 
studied as a youth, and whose peculiar ideas he set forth in 
copious works until over 80 years of age. " Servile imita- 
tion," however, cannot be charged against him; his mind 
was too vigorous, fertile in conception, and acute in com- 
prehension. 

The nephew, Gervasio Gatti, was a still greater artist. 
Educated by his uncle in the principles and ways of Correg- 
gio, although he had not the advantage of studying personally 
under that master, yet by going to Parma and copying at 
length from his surviving works, he was able eventually to 
produce paintings of such merit, so perfectly in the best Cor- 
reggiesque manner, that strangers could not believe but that 
he had been advised by that master himself. Gervaslo's 
tableaux exhibit the same round, full contours, flushed and 
smiling faces, rich but cleverly united colours, and extensive 
chiaroscuro. In Lanzi's opinion, he had " the title to be 
considered the great master of the Cremonese school, which, 
benefited by his presence and guided by his precepts and ex- 
ample, produced during so long a period such a variety of 
admirable works. To speak frankly what I think," he con- 
tinued, " Cremona would never have seen her Campi, nor 
her Boccaccini, rise so high, if Soiaro had not exhibited his 
talents in that city." 

One more excellent artist of this same rich period remains 
to be mentioned, — Boccaccino's son, Camillo ; to whom, as 
it is generally phrased, was entrusted the continuance of his 
father's tradition. Most worthily he bore the name, — al- 
though, as was inevitable, the more simple Boccaccino man- 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 339 

ner became overlaid by the newer developments and discov- 
eries, and especially by the influence of Correggio. Camillo's 
talents were of a high order, as is seen in his remarkable 
frescoes at S. Sigismondo. He had extraordinary powers of 
execution, of perspective and foreshortening, of dramatic 
composition, and lively expression. 

In the next century, of the decadence, Cremona had a still 
more numerous group of artists, whose names today have 
mostly sunk into oblivion. Of them all, one only is worthy 
of mention in company with the cinque centistSj — the one in 
whom the dying fire flared up as usual, before extinguish- 
ment, — Cavaliere Trotti, surnamed II Malosso. A very 
good specimen of his abilities I had already seen in the 
Duomo of Lodi. — Before the end of the ctnquecento Cre- 
mona also possessed that rare asset, a family of female 
painters, — ■ the d'Anguisciola, whose six brilliant daughters 
all showed talent; but Sophonisba, a pupil of Bern. Gatti, 
far surpassed the others, producing canvases worthy almost of 
the first rank, and which are still greatly valued. Very few 
of them, if any, remain in her native town. 

There was another branch of art, music. In regard to 
which Cremona shared with Brescia a uniquely eminent 
position. For if the first violins were made at Brescia, It 
was Cremona which chiefly continued their manufacture, and 
developed them into an excellence which has never since been 
equalled. This was done by the genius — the infinite, pains- 
taking care, and consequent discoveries — of three renowned 
makers. Niccolo Amati, the first of these, returned from an 
apprenticeship at Brescia to set up, about 1620, the original 
factory of Cremona; working in which, during a long life, 
with the assistance of his sons, he began the Instrument's 
Improvement through profound studies upon the proper 
kinds, seasoning and graining of wood. From his appren- 



340 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

tices emerged the maker who became the greatest the world 
has ever seen, — Antonio Stradivari. Born In 1644, this 
master laboured steadily In his little Cremonese shop until 
the advanced age of 93 or 94, Investigating, experimenting, 
developing, turning out altogether over two thousand violins, 
besides hundreds of violas, every one of which had passed 
through his own expert hands. He is said to have dearly 
loved the clink of gold, and to have sold his violins at an 
average price of £4, — equivalent in buying power to £40 
today ; but a good specimen of his work is now worth £4000, 
for there are not more than 250 of them left in existence. 

From that same shop was produced the third great master- 
workman, Giuseppe Ant. Guarnierl, who, setting up a factory 
of his own after learning all that Stradivari could or would 
teach him, carried on the business at Cremona until 1745. 
His productions have not the extraordinary value of his 
teacher's, being both more numerous and without the same 
magical quality of tone; but they occupy the same elevated 
class, far above all others. After his day, for some unknown 
reason, the secret of the manufacture died away, and the 
industry ceased. 

In the world of letters Cremona produced, among other 
eminent writers, Marco GIrolamo VIda, " the first poet of 
the second Augustan age of Roman literature, and sometimes 
not undeservably styled by his admirers, the Christian Vir- 
gil." ^^ Born here toward the close of the quattrocento, 
of poor but noble parents, he managed through their efforts, 
with difficulty, to obtain an education from the Universities 
of Padua and Bologna; he entered at 20 the Augustine 
monastery at Mantua, became a canon in the congregation 
of St. John Lateran at Rome, and poured forth his poetic 
effusions under the generous patronage of Popes Leo X and 

13 Eustace's " Classical Tour through Italy." 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 341 

Clement VII. At the latter's court he enjoyed a distin- 
guished position; whence he was promoted to the Bishopric 
of Alba, and finally returned to his native town as prior of 
the monastery attached to the church of S. Margherlta. 
There he had the satisfaction of inducing Giulio Campi to 
decorate his church with some of the last works of the great 
painter's life. VIda's poems are justly renowned, not only 
for their high finish, but for their depth and tenderness of 
sentiment. 

The city of Cremona lies still within its mediaeval brick 
walls, strangely but closely resembling a hen's egg in shape, 
with the smaller end turned to the northwest. Both ends 
have been left mostly bare of buildings, by the shrinkage 
of the population. Though located on the Po, half a dozen 
miles below the confluence of the Adda, owing to a change 
of Its course In the progress of the centuries the river no 
longer washes the city's walls, but flows by at a short dis- 
tance to the southwest. A broad straight highway called 
the Via al Po now leads from its bank to the Porta del Po, 
in the middle of the southwestern ramparts, — the only gate 
upon that side. Upon the northern side two gateways open: 
the Porta Milano, near the western end, without which 
lies the railway station, and the Porta Venezia, near the 
eastern end, without which lies the church of S. SIglsmondo. 
The central square, the Piazza del Comune, with its sur- 
rounding public buildings, is located appropriately at the. 
egg's centre of weight, — the middle of the larger half — 
extending In a long parallelogram from northwest to south- 
east; as do all the principal arteries of the town. Three 
blocks to the northwest is found the huge Piazza Roma, a 
delightfully wooded and flowered park covering many acres, 
shaped also like an elongated rectangle, extending In the same 
directions. 



342 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Between the main piazzas and the southwestern wall lies 
that portion of the city which was the Roman military set- 
tlement, or camp, distinguished by the rectangular uni- 
formity of its streets; while the portion on the northeast is 
as clearly mediaeval,— vermicular in its tortuous ways. The 
main street of the former quarter is Corso Vitt. Emanuele, 
running from the central piazza straight southwest to the 
Porta del Po; the main street of the latter, called Via Maz- 
zini and Corso Umberto, runs twistingly from the eastern 
corner of Piazza Roma, northeastward to the Porta Venezia. 
The principal thoroughfare of the city, dividing these halves, 
is likewise crooked, extending from Porta Milano southeast 
to the Piazza Pescherie, which is a block southwest of 
Piazza Comune; and passing Piazza Roma en routes also a 
block to the southwest. 

It was from this avenue that I obtained my first glimpse 
of Cremona, on that sunny July noon when I arrived from 
Castelleone, and came jolting over the cobbles to the deafen- 
ing rattle of a hotel 'bus. From Porta Milano we fol- 
lowed the main Corso Garibaldi southeast, to the square 
piazza of that name, dignified by the classic edifice of S. 
Agata which so horrified the gothic Mr. Street; thence by 
a northeasterly bend of several blocks, to the fairly broad 
and imposing Corso Campi (how pleasant it was to see that 
name, preferred for once over the heroes of the Risorgi- 
mento!). This led straight southeasterly again, to the Piazza 
Pescherie; but we turned from it to the left, halfway down, 
so that after a block I found myself passing along the south- 
eastern end of the smiling Piazza Roma, with its luxuriant 
trees and pretty flowerbeds; coming finally to a stop at its 
easterly corner, where commences the Via Mazzini. 

Here was my hotel, the ancient but lately remodelled 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 343 

Albergo Roma, located at the northern angle of street and 
piazza, with a long stretch of sunny chambers delightfully 
overlooking the greenery of the park, — one of which I was 
able to secure. It was a typical native hostelry of the best 
class, frequented by Italian travellers and the officers of the 
garrison, with delicious Italian cooking and wines, and very 
reasonable prices; mine host and hostess were an energetic, 
agreeable couple, attentive to every want, and made my 
protracted stay very pleasant. The propinquity of the park 
proved a decided attraction; through its shady, gravelled 
paths, and beside its flowerbeds and ponds, I found myself 
loitering away many a wearied hour ; regularly, too, at even- 
tide, and upon the afternoons of festas_, in company with tout 
le monde I listened to the music of the garrison's band, 
which was large and excellently drilled. It played good 
classical pieces, from the central, covered stand, while the 
well-dressed world occupied the scores of adjacent benches, 
and strolled along the pleasant paths. Amongst the verdure 
there was a huge stucco jardiniere^ painted to resemble bronze, 
upon which was discernible an inscription that revealed the 
cause for the existence of so large a pleasure-ground in the 
midst of a crowded, walled city: "Dove furono — con- 
vento e tempio — della — Inquisizione Domenicana — voile 
amenita — di piante e fiorl — il Municipale Consiglio — 
1878." 

These were, then, the grounds of the Dominican monastery, 
which, made hateful to the people by a long period of eccle- 
siastical oppression and avarice, and by the terrible processes 
of the Inquisition to which it had lent its aid, was eagerly 
demolished soon after the Risorgimento. — Near the band- 
stand of Swiss-chalet style, in the western part of the southern 
half of the park, stood a handsome modern fountain of mar- 



344 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ble, representing three nymphs and a cherub clinging to a 
rock In the centre of the pool, from whose summit gushed 
a tumbling stream. In the corresponding eastern part was 
a monument to Cremona's famous composer, Amilcare Pon- 
chlelll; which formerly stood before the local theatre 
named after him, and at which his operas are often per- 
formed. He Is best remembered as the author of " La GIo- 
conda." 

Toward five o'clock, that first afternoon, I started forth 
down the narrow street leading southeastward, and traversing 
the three Intervening blocks, stood at last upon the Ideal 
Piazza of the Middle Ages. Words fail me when I recall 
the sensations raised by that first sight of Its Imposing gran- 
deur, Its striking picturesqueness, Its wondrous union of 
power, and age, and magnificent beauty. Nothing had pre- 
pared me for buildings so Immense, so perfectly preserved 
In all their harmonies of line and wealth of decoration. It 
was their grouping together, doubtless, in this tremendous 
rectangle, unspoiled by a single edifice of later date than the 
13 th century, that caused each towering mass to lend Its 
dignity and ornamentation to the others, and the whole 
mighty construction to produce an effect thus overpowering. 
Circling from the glowing red public palaces on the right, 
round by the tall Baptistery and the vast fagade of the 
Duomo, step by step they mounted higher, to the marvellous 
bulk of the Torrazz^o, piercing the blue sky 400 feet above 
the ground. Ah, what fabrics were these, constructed prac- 
tically of clay alone! The Cathedral only was faced with 
marble, In Iridescent stripes of alternate red and white, that 
reflected the same hues from the other structures. What 
perfect accordance marked the whole of them, — what a 
grand harmony of Lombard gothic and romanesque, unal- 
tered, undisturbed, transporting the observer at a single bound 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 345 

to that far-off wonderful Duecento of struggling municipal 
republics, which seethed and battled, and erected with their 
puny strength titanic structures such as these.^* 

Upon the left rose the great tower and the Cathedral, 
successively, connected and faced by a graceful arcaded loggia, 
that was the single Renaissance feature of the Piazza; but 
it was early Renaissance, of simple round arches upon 
Corinthian marble columns, adorned only by alternate statues 
of saints and putti upon its crowning balustrade; and it 
was thus not markedly inharmonious with the rest. Upon the 
right stood the Palazzo Municipale and the Palazzo Giuri- 
consulti, raised upon massive gothic arches and crested with 
battlements. At the Piazza's end, upon the left side, rose 
the octagonal drum of the Baptistery, with its stern massive- 
ness lightened by its beautiful colonnaded gallery beneath 
the eaves. On its right stretched an extension of the Piazza, 
to a modern, striped structure at the far end, which had 
most wisely been erected in the Lombard style of the palaces, 
with gothic arches and romanesque frieze; betraying its 
modernity only in the comparative freshness of its materials. 
The hither end where I stood, disconnected from the Piazza 
proper by an intervening street, consisted of four-storied 
stucco houses, several centuries of age, whose ground floors 
were filled with shops and cafes; but the observer's back is 

^* This piazza was for many centuries the scene of curious 
mediaeval festivals, especially the famous " Caccia del Toro " held 
on Aug. 15, the feast of the Assumption; the eve of the festa was 
marked by a long combat between the companies of the so-called 
" BIrlcchlnl " and " Portabrente," recalling Cremona's victory over 
Henry IV; and the day itself, by a genuine bull-fight, conducted on 
rather free-for-all lines, celebrating the great victory of the Cre- 
monese over the Parmesans in 1248 (the bull being the chief factor 
of Parma's coat of arms). The former festival ceased in 772; the 
latter in 1575. 



346 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

invariably turned upon these buildings, which seem truly 
disassociated, and do not break the historic charm. 

It is, of course, the vast, imposing majesty of the Duomo 
and its tower that spreads such a glamour upon this scene. 
The other edifices, by comparison, are merely complementary. 
The tower rises detached upon the left of the fagade, exactly 
at the corner of the aforesaid street, its gigantic red brick 
body soaring aloft with practically no opening for half of its 
stupendous height. It was a happy after-thought of the 
early Renaissance, that of linking it to the Duomo by a mar- 
ble loggia; for this loggia, which the Cremonese for centuries 
have called their " Bertazzola," before the tower alone is 
two-storied, — the second stage consisting of arches half the 
size of those below, upon simple, slim pillars; so that it 
forms a most apt and gratifying base to the mighty square 
shaft, appropriately contrasted by the glowing marble against 
its crimson brick, the graceful arcades against its grim pon- 
derosity. 

A third of the way up it, is spread an enormous clock-face, 
occupying the fourth of these stages into which the shaft 
is divided by recurring arcaded cornices of terracotta. The 
sixth stage is marked by the first window, — one on each 
side, — a double-arcaded gothic opening twice recessed ; two 
of them grace the next division ; and in the eighth is a win- 
dow of four arches, handsomely proportioned, topped by a 
little marble colonnade which serves as a sort of frieze to 
this, the main body of the structure. Tall battlements sur- 
mount the frieze, within which soars the loveliest portion 
of the tower, — the two-storied octagonal lantern, richly 
decorated. To see this — so high is it — I was obliged to 
retreat for the distance of a block. The first story, the 
belfry proper, is single-arched upon each side, and crowned 
by three successive arcaded cornices of white stone, upon 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 347 

the frieze, parapet, and retreating upper base; the second 
story is double-arched, upon glistening coupled columns, — 
of marble, like all the others, — one shaft being placed be- 
hind the other; and it is topped by two arcaded white cor- 
nices, from the second of which soars the octagonal brick 
spire. The magnificence of the whole effect is created by 
this excessive ornamentation of the lantern, and the colour 
effect of the lustrous white colonnades, arcaded cornices and 
parapets, gleaming in the sunlight against the red-brick body. 
Just indeed was the pride of the mediaeval Cremonese over 
this marvellous creation in brick, which marked the position 
of their city over a hundred miles of plain. Well indeed 
could they chant: 

" Unus Petrus est in Roma, 
Una Turris in Cremona." 

Beyond the tower's base the Bertazzola continues across 
the fagade of the Duomo, a single storey in height, broken 
midway by the huge projecting marble porch over the central 
doorway, — which is a splendid structure, of peerless gothic 
beauty. Its lofty pile, twice the height of the arcade, rests 
upon two slender columns rising from colossal archaic lions. 
These are of red Verona marble, crouching upon white 
bases; their paws hold to earth a dragon and a dog, and 
other dragons of weird form clamber over their backs. They 
are said to have been executed about 1560 by Sebastiano da 
Nani, the author also of the statues surmounting the loggia. 
The porch, however, was constructed by Giacomo Porata of 
Cremona about 1274, when the erection of the whole fagade 
was begun, and the tower was just under way. The inner 
supports of the archway consist of double consoles on each 
side, overhead, carved in Lombard fashion with uncouth 
squatting figures and ugly sphinxes; between which recedes 



348 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the vast doorway proper, round-arched but thoroughly gothic, 
enclosed in ten or twelve successive mouldings, — of most 
impressive effect. By the jambs rise a couple of ornamental 
columns, very slender and detached, supported by two more 
little squatting figures, barely human; and upon the jambs 
themselves, facing each other, are carved in high relief four 
crude figures of nearly lifesize, one standing above another, 
— the four patron saints of Cremona, Pietro, Marcellino, 
Imerio and Omobuono. 

The great archway of the porch is symmetrically crowned 
by a second storey, half as high again, consisting of a charm- 
ing loggia of three pointed arches, upheld by marble columns 
resting upon four smaller lions. In the middle arch stands 
a lifesize statue of the Madonna holding her Child, and 
gazing at Him with a fine expression of maternal joy; this 
rests upon a pedestal carved with a quaint early relief of a 
bishop clutching his pastoral staff, and blessing with a hand 
large enough for a giant. In the side arches stand two 
more saintly figures, also lifesize, and, like the Madonna, of 
later workmanship. Beneath them all, as a sort of frieze 
to the mighty arch, extends a delightfully quaint procession 
of little figures, in high relief, engaged in sowing, digging, 
pruning, riding to the chase, and other such daily occupa- 
tions; all wonderfully well done for a work of the I2th 
or 13th century. 

Immediately over the porch's inclined roof opens the 
enormous and beautiful rose-window, of rose-tinted marble, 
which was also designed by Giacomo Porata ; it is very deeply 
recessed, and filled with exquisite regular tracery, like the 
countless petals of a marguerite. Just below it the red and 
white fagade is crossed by two Lombard arcaded galleries, 
with glistening marble shafts, necessarily interrupted in the 
centre by the top storey of the porch. Two plain circular 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 349 

windows, much smaller, also flank the porch, below the gal- 
leries; and two pairs of double-arched openings, quite small, 
flank the rose-window. Above all this rises the pyramidal 
summit of the fagade, which was completed in the Renais- 
sance epoch and style: its side slopes consist of two huge 
baroque scrolls, holding in their convolutions large medal- 
lions with busts ; their upper ends are connected by an arcade 
of niches, holding saintly statues of heroic size; over which 
rises a classic pediment, with the city's shield of arms, topped 
by a curious baroque lantern or belfry. This pinnacle, how- 
ever, aided by the corner towers soaring from the shoulders 
of the f agade — round in form, and ending in colonnaded 
open belfries tipped by conical spires — manages to counter- 
act the inharmony of the renaissance peak; so that it really 
detracts very little from the Lombard-gothic effect of the 
whole. The mind of the observer is impressed by the fagade's 
massive loftiness, crested by the spires; and his eye is fixed 
by Its magnificent Lombard features, — the arcaded galleries, 
the great window, and the splendid porch. 

The Cathedral, begun In 1107, was enclosed and conse- 
crated in 1 1 90; its front, as I have said, was not commenced 
till 1274; and It was 70 years later, In 1342, when the 
edifice was augmented by the addition of the enormous tran- 
septs, so huge that Street compared them to another great 
church laid across the first one. The looming sides of these 
are visible from the piazza, also the upper walls of the nave, 
— all distinguished by their handsome decorations of Lom- 
bard marble colonnades. The trtinsepts have separate 
fagades and porches, of striking size and impressiveness, look- 
ing upon the streets and areas at the sides. 

Traversing the arcaded loggia, I observed In the wall not 
far to left of the portal a curious old Lombard relief, of 
Adam eating the apple, and the Expulsion from Paradise. 



350 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Here also were various ancient sepulchres and fragments of 
architecture, including an attenuated archaic Hon, and two 
antique statues. One later sepulchre, set high on the wall, 
bore the date 1357, and was carved with quaint reliefs of 
the Madonna and saints. On its left I noticed the doorway 
to the tower, located between it and the Duomo, enclosed 
in a handsome renaissance frame, topped by a statuette, and 
closed by a finely wrought Iron gate. Turning back to the 
corner and walking down the adjacent street, I soon reached 
the fagade of the northern transept, which towered over 
the way like a grim fortress. It was entirely of unpainted 
brick, except for a few marble and terracotta details: divided 
into three compartments by rectangular, Lombard pilaster- 
buttresses, it had three perfectly plain, unfinished windows 
in the first story, of 3 and 4 arches each, upon marble shafts, 
and three splendid rose-windows near the top, of cotta tracery 
and brick mouldings, and encircled by cotta geometrical re- 
liefs. 

The elevated portal, approached by steps, was covered by 
a simple but dignified marble porch, supported by slender 
square pillars resting upon the customar}^ crouching lions; to 
this there was no second storey; Its tall pointed arch bore an 
architrave of delicate relieved designs, with saintly statuettes 
occupying the spandrels; and within was the usual recessed 
doorway, round-arched, with gothic mouldings. Upon Its 
lintel was cut In relief a series of exceedingly archaic figures, 
in the peculiar Lombard squatting position, supposed to 
represent the Saviour and the 12 Apostles; and seldom any- 
where have I seen sculpture so typically quaint. The gable 
of the front was distinctly Lombard, with an oblique ar- 
caded frieze resting upon dwarfed brick columns with very 
crude capitals, recessed in gallery-form; and from the peak 
and shoulders rose three polygonal towers, ending in col- 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 351 

onnaded marble belfries and conical spires. This was a 
fagade, as Mr. Street justly observed, which was " certainly 
most remarkable and magnificent in detail, though most 
unreal and preposterous as a whole. — They are — both of 
them, vast sham fronts, like the west front in that they con- 
ceal the structure of the church behind them ; and are pierced 
with numbers of windows which from the very first must 
have been built but to be blocked up. — And yet, there is a 
breadth and grandeur of scale about them, which goes far 
to redeem their faults, and a beauty about much of the detail 
which I cannot but admire extremely." 

The choir and apse of the Duomo, which were erected 
last of all, about 1480, are concealed by the closely sur- 
rounding houses. From the same Via Boccaccino, however, 
a fine view was afforded me of the upper walls of nave and 
transept, glorified by their lustrous colonnaded galleries, of 
marble shafts and brick arches, crowned by an arcaded ter- 
racotta frieze. — The street itself was occupied in the morn- 
ings, as I later found, by a sort of market, with numerous 
stalls of fruit, vegetables, and every kind of household article, 
piled against the walls of the church and tower; a custom 
and a scene absolutely unchanged from the far-o£E days of 
the Visconti. 

On returning to the Piazza, I noticed its characteristic 
mediaeval pavement, of small cobbles intersected by narrow 
paths of marble, which formed huge geometrical patterns; 
but my attention was next claimed by the pleasing Bap- 
tistery at the end, whose typical Lombard design contributed 
so much to the general effect. This edifice, erected in 1167, 
was a pure octagonal drum of red brick, with curving, slim, 
triangular buttresses at the angles, having its two principal 
faces covered with marble slabs; these were the northwestern, 
looking down the Piazza, fronted to nearly half-height by 



352 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

a characteristic Lombard porch, and the face adjacent upon 
its left. The crowning arcaded gallery, running entirely 
around, was round-arched upon marble pillars, half a dozen 
to a side; above which opened a couple of little circular 
apertures per side, in lieu of a frieze, topped by a very plain 
cornice. The low-pitched octagonal roof culminated in an 
airy columned lantern, ,of renaissance lightness, tipped by 
a winged angel bearing aloft the Cross. The windows were 
truly romanesque, — tiny openings of single or double arches, 
not more than one per side, in each of the three tiers. The 
marble porch consisted of an undecorated round archway, 
upheld by a couple of light-red columns resting upon medi- 
aeval lions of the same colour, that crouched on heavy grey 
bases; while the recessed doorway within was ornamented 
by romanesque spiral shafts. 

On looking now more attentively at the two public pal- 
aces on the right, which had seemed so much alike in their 
reddish colour, imposing gothic arches, and battlements, I 
observed marked differences in their construction. Both 
were built in the 13th century, — the one in 1245 and the 
other in 1292, — and both are apparently of two storeys 
only, though very high storeys; but the first, the Palazzo 
Pubblico, or Municipio, is raised upon a fine arcaded loggia, 
of brick arches with marble pillars, and terracotta archi- 
traves and string-courses ; while the second, the Palazzo Giuri- 
consulti (or law-courts) has no loggia, but consists below 
of two huge, recessed, brick arches, containing two storeys 
of rounded doorways and pointed windows, with handsome 
cotta ornamentation. As for their upper floors: in the former 
palace, upon a shining marble parapet, rise six round-arched 
windows, beautifully framed in terracotta, surmounted by 
an arcaded brick frieze; while in the latter, are three ex- 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 353 

quisitely formed gothic windows, recessed in cotta mouldings, 
each containing three pointed arches with marble shafts. 

The Munlcipio Is really very much larger than the other 
building, being many times as deep, extending back for a 
hundred yards and covering a full square block. Before the 
central pillar of Its loggia I noticed a curious sort of pulpit, 
renaissance In form, and much worn away, approached by a 
little stairway at the side; it was that which had been used 
for centuries for the reading of notices, decrees, and ad- 
dresses to the assembled citizens. Against the back wall 
of the loggia stood a fine bronze bust of Umberto I, over- 
topped by an outspread eagle. The courtyard was simple 
but graceful, with Its surrounding arcade of gothic brick 
arches, outlined by cotta mouldings; and far above on the 
right soared Its slender square brick tower, to a lofty height. 
The latter was better seen, I found, from the street upon 
the right side; where huge Roman stones were visible In 
its base, and scattered In the long wall were all sorts of 
windows, of every size and shape and age, — the results of 
the countless changes of the centuries. They reminded me 
that in this very edifice had been conducted the government 
of Cremona in those far-off misty times of the VIscontI, the 
Cavalcabo, and Fondulo ; here Busso da Doara had launched 
his edicts upon the people, and Charles of Anjou had sat 
In state to receive their homage. It seemed Incredible. 

The wall ended in another square tower, not lofty, beyond 
which rose the later extension of the palace, also of red brick, 
with simple rounded windows; this faced southward, I 
found, upon another wide square, the Piazza Cavour, sur- 
rounded by old stucco buildings of variegated hues. In pre- 
vailing tints of yellow, drab, and brown. Along Its south 
and west sides ran low arcades, upon ancient columns of 



354 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

many kinds, and in the middle of the north side stood the 
city's marble statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, on a pink 
granite pedestal. — From here the Piazza Pescherie was a 
single block to the southeast, at the other rear corner of 
the Municipio. — From this corner, however, by all means the 
most striking sight was that of the mighty Torrazzo, visible 
straight up the narrow way I had just descended, with its 
wonderful red and white peak glowing radiantly in the 
sinking sun. Now I could understand the affection of the 
Cremonese for their unequalled tower ; it is ever present with 
them, looking thus beautifully down upon every street and 
piazza, investing the whole city — as has well been said — 
with a character, an added dignity, that it would not other- 
wise possess. 

Returning to the Piazza, I succeeded in effecting en- 
trance to the Torrazzo, and, laboriously mounting its hun- 
dreds of winding steps, reached the lantern just as the sun 
touched the far, level horizon. Ah! what a panorama of 
the historic plain was that now presented, wrapped in the 
golden glory of the sunset ! Through its shimmering mantle 
emerged the gleaming white walls of the compact city below, 
topped by its numerous campanili of every form and age, — 
so many landmarks of the clustering memories of the great 
past, which endowed the scene with a thrilling picturesque- 
ness and a moving significance : those '' slender towers, rising 
like minarets, in every direction, in front and behind, and 
giving a marked resemblance to the mosques of the Mo- 
hammedans." ^^ Beyond the near ramparts, over the limit- 
less green level whose verdure now glistened with a velvet 
sheen, soared other spires, uncountable, — that vast company 
of Lombard " fingers pointing to heaven," which have be- 
stowed upon the plain its distinctive character; each one 

15 Lord Lindsay's " Christian Art." 



CREMONA THE CONTENTIOUS 355 

so mediaeval, so beloved by the people gathered about its 
foot, so reminiscent of their troubled centuries, that Vamore 
del campanile is the old Lombard phrase for love of home; 
each one the marking centre of a town or village, that 
sparkled refulgent in the emerald sea, making innumerable 
scintillant dots as far as the eye could reach. 

"And oh, ye swelling hills, and spacious plains, 
Besprent from shore to shore with steeple-towers! " ^^ 

Limitless, — I said ; so it was from east to west ; but far 
to north and south the mighty bulwarks of nature lifted 
their giant forms, — the glorious snow-clad Alps, glittering 
in formidable peaks behind the foot-hills where sat historic 
Brescia round her citadel, — and the craggy, countless sum- 
mits of the Apennines, still nearer, glowering behind the 
unseen roofs of Parma and Piacenza. But for the golden 
iridescence the latter town would be clearly visible, 20 miles 
to the southwest; from it the sparkling Po came rolling its 
grand and sinuous course, dividing the sea of greenery like a 
serpent of silver scales. Far to the southeast, across 30 
miles of verdurous fields, divided into rectangles by the endless 
lines of poplars marking the roads, and so covered with 
trees as to seem at this distance like a veritable forest, — surely 
that was Parma, that clump of towers at the foot of the 
frowning Apennines. 

Southward directly rose another group, — for the air was 
clear tonight, — which must mean Borgo San Donnino. 
Northwestward at no greater distance, but hidden by the 
sun-glaze, lay Lodi and Crema, with their treasures of art 
and memory. Northward gazing, I recalled that eventide 
of many months ago, when I had stood there beneath the 
swelling, snowy Alps on the ancient citadel of Brescia, and 

16 Wordsworth's " The Excursion." 



356 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

looked vainly southward for a sight of this same tower of Cre- 
mona, — the loftiest erection of mankind in Italy. Inward 
gazing, I recalled that famous scene of the Renaissance which 
on this very summit that I trod had taken place: that sight- 
seeing group of the year 1414, — the Emperor Sigismund and 
the Pope John XXIII, escorted by their host, the blood- 
stained tyrant Fondulo, — who had climbed up here to stand 
entranced by this same panorama now spread around me un- 
changed. Then it was, that into the tyrant's mind there 
entered that terrible temptation which he confessed upon 
the scaffold, and which, though resisted, has shed such a white 
light on the mentality of the Renaissance: when asked before 
the headsman's block to confess his awful sins, Fondulo re- 
plied, — '' I repent of nothing but this, that when I had the 
Emperor and the Pope together at the top of my great tower, 
I did not hurl them both over the parapet, — and so gain 
immortal fame! " 



CHAPTER XI 

CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 

"Blessed be the land that -warms my heart, 
And the kindly clime that cheers, 
And the cordial faces free from art. 

And the tongue sweet in mine ears; 
Take my heart, its truest, tenderest part, — 
Dear land, take my tears." 

Christine G. Rossetti. 

" Each one sees what he carries in his heart," wrote Goethe. 
To put it in another way: a traveller is one building a fair 
house in the mind; but he must have a stout framework of 
knowledge, before he can lay on the shingles of observation. 
Above all this is true in Italy. It recurred to me with a 
new force as I wandered about the Piazza and historic build- 
ings of Cremona, longing for a more intimate acquaintance 
with their eventful past, wishing that every stone might 
speak to tell me of its memories. The same wish was strong 
upon me when, the morning after my arrival, I stood for 
the first time within that wondrous fane, in whose heart 
have been gathered for eight hundred years all the aspirations, 
pretensions, sorrows, and surging passions for good or evil, of 
this vibratory and agitated people. 

Yet the first sight of that interior, after the impressive 
grandeur of the fagade, was undeniably disappointing; for 
the rounded arches flanking the nave were so low as to shut 
off the view of the church's true dimensions, conceal the 
spacious transepts, and obscure much of the aisles; and so 
massive were the supporting columns, yet so perfect all the 

357 



358 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

main proportions, that for some time I could not realise the 
vastness of the structure. Slowly came the comprehension 
that the gothic vaulted roof, with its noble groining, was at 
a giddy height above this tessellated marble pavement; that 
it was a wide stretch from one side wall to the other, and 
that the imposing apse, ^with its glory of painting, was at a 
long distance from where I stood by the entrance. 

The sensation of its great age was quite wanting, it is 
true; but now there came in place of it the sense of those 
innumerable beauties with which the ancient bricks had been 
covered, — countless, varied, glowing colours, floating down 
to me from graceful figures and striking tableaux, radiating 
from every pillar and wall-space, from the vaulting and the 
apse. Beneath this flood of gentle hues, I could discern 
that all vestiges of the original brickwork had been hidden 
by stucco, in the renovation of 1490. Lither then, or sub- 
sequently, the pillars had been moulded into their present ugly 
forms, half gothic, half renaissance, — clustered columns and 
fluted pilasters, pressed together ; but round their bulky dark- 
grey shapes were draped an unbroken series of fine old tap- 
estries, of softest tints, — a delightful veiling of their defects ; 
which was no temporary measure, for travellers wrote of 
seeing them thus nearly a century ago. Their connecting low 
arches, destitute of architrave or immediate cornice, were 
painted in greyish designs, and crowned by the grandest 
frieze that man could give them, — the great series of fres- 
coes by the early cinque centists^ running entirely around the 
nave. Their infinite colours, made quiet by time, filtered 
through the dusk with a united harmony impossible to de- 
scribe. This frieze was very broad, allowing two large 
square tableaux to each bay ; the bays being divided by pilaster- 
strips, mounting from the caps of the pillars to the general 
cornice above. 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 359 

Over this gilded cornice extended the lofty trlforlum- 
gallery of the Lombard style, consisting of a series of low, 
rounded, heavy arches, two In each bay, divided by short 
stone columns. From just above them sprang the ribs of 
the roof, which was also painted. In a general brown tone, 
offset by gaudy dark-blue panels and gilt rosettes In the 
cells of the majestic groining. The gothic vaulting of the 
aisles, but a third as high as that of the nave, bore the faded 
frescoes of the trecento. The only windows, besides those 
of the fagade and apse, opened above the triforlum arches, 
— one to each bay, large and pointed. The lower arches 
continued unbrokenly Into the choir, which was raised two 
or three steps, and separated from the nave by a small brass 
railing; above this, on each side, appeared a carved and 
gilded muslc-loft, fastened across the upper part of one of 
the arches, — ■ that upon the left being surmounted by the 
organ, which reached to the roof. Not a sign nor a hint 
was given of the existence of any transept; they had not 
been Included In the original romanesque plan. 

Behind the high-altar, between the two apse windows, 
glowed a magnificent canvas in an oblong gilt frame, of re- 
markable size, — the celebrated Assumption of Bernardino 
Gatti; and the effect of Its warm, bright colours, shining 
down the nave, was heightened by the six large pictures at its 
sides — two beneath the adjacent windows, and four stretched 
before the final side arches — filled with heroic figures and 
radiant tints. Under the whole seven extended In a dark and 
glistening curve the Jiemlcycle of the choir-stalls, with their 
richly carved arms and head-pieces; above them, In the huge 
half-dome, shone a fresco of astonishing magnitude, represent- 
ing the throned Christ in glory. In a burst of dazzling sun 
rays and thunderbolts, surrounded by the four standing figures 
of Cremona's patron saints, — all of them forms of colossal 



36o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

height, vividly coloured in soft blues and gold. It was 
Boccaccio's most famous fresco, done in 1506. The Christ 
was of startling power and majesty, increased by the splen- 
did perspective of the Heaven of rolling white clouds behind, 
which glistened roundabout Him with a wonderful, trans- 
parent effulgence from the hidden throne of the Almighty. 

The choir, having been erected in Renaissance days, was 
consequently round-arched in its vaulting, which left a tri- 
angular lunette between the beginning of that vaulting and 
the higher, pointed roof of the nave; and here, surmounting 
the triumphal arch, glowed a charming fresjco of the An- 
nunciation, full of grace and sweetness, in the more quiet, 
devotional manner of Boccaccino. On turning to the en- 
trance-wall, I saw three more enormous paintings of the 
first order: above the doorway was a Crucifixion, one of the 
largest in the world, and lower down on the left and right, 
were the Deposition and the Resurrection; the first two 
by Pordenone, the last by Bern. Gatti. I was, then, facing 
the masterpieces in fresco of both those renowned mas- 
ters. Yet Pordenone's, — in spite of their fame, and 
their transcendent abilities shown in the modelling of the 
human figure, of their forcefulness, and significance of dra- 
matic action and expression, — did not impress me with any 
• great favour ; they were overcrowded with giant forms, too 
vehement in gesture and movement, too ill ordered in com- 
position and frenzied in feeling. They were imposing by 
the very force of their surging passions, it is true, and are 
unquestionably supreme accomplishments in the bold and 
vigorous handling of the nude, and in all the arts of realistic 
execution. Their foreshortening is celebrated; in the Dep- 
osition, or Pieta, the nude figure of the Christ lies stretched 
upon the ground directly away from the observer, — a 
position of extraordinary daring, yet which the master's 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 361 

genius has safely carried through. Gatti's Resurrection, 
however, is a very grand work, superior in most of the 
points that constitute the best painting: it is dignified, bal- 
anced, noble in composition and bearing, graceful in its 
forms and gestures, accurate in its drawing, and pleasing in 
its quiet expressiveness and sentiment. No other evidence is 
needed, to confirm his place as a master of the first rank. 

Next I began the examination of the great frieze, — 
which Lanzi had in mind when he ranked this edifice with 
the Sistine Chapel in historic and artistic value; and I ob- 
served at once how strongly spaced and composed were the 
first tableaux on the left side, how grandly posed and draped 
were the figures, with what an exceeding grace of form and 
grouping, what a delightful harmony of hues, however 
faded; and it was no wonder, for these w^ere the works of 
Boccaccino. How beautifully contrasted were they, in their 
noble simplicity, from the opposite panels of Pordenone on 
the right side, where crowds and passions surged, and frenzy 
of action raged. They represented successively: the angel 
speaking to Joachim as he wandered in the fields; the meet- 
ing of Joachim and Anna, — with truly majestic figures, 
finely backgrounded; the birth of the Virgin, realistic in its 
homely details; her marriage, amidst an impressive gather- 
ing, full of feeling; the Annunciation; the visitation of her 
mother; her adoration of the Child, finely designed and 
teeming with tenderest sentiment; and the coming of the 
Magi, — unfortunately too faded to be decipherable. 

Next came the two contributions by Gian Fran. Bembo, 
in his somewhat more advanced style, — the Magi, again, 
and the Presentation in the Temple; then two by Altobello 
Melone, still more advanced, more crowded, and more ex- 
cited, — the Flight into Egypt, and the Massacre of the 
Innocents; and lastly, in striking contrast to Melone's 



362 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

frenzy, Boccaccino's double-size panel, the Christ teaching 
in the Temple, — replete with dignity, even grandeur, of 
form and disposition. Here in the choir I had a near view 
of Gatti's tremendous Assumption, — the last 'work of II 
Soiaro, executed by him when over 80 years of age, and in 
fact interrupted by the paralytic stroke which ultimately 
caused his death. After that affliction he courageously 
learned to use his left hand, and painted in several more 
figures before he died ; it is therefore still unfinished, but that 
hardly detracts from its splendour of composition, form and 
colour, animated by a height of sentiment seldom reached 
by any artist. On its left was Antonio Campi's Healing 
of the Centurion's Son, of excellent expression in the princi- 
pal figures, with the painter himself introduced on the left, 
looking like a fat, boyish buffoon; on its right was Bern. 
Campi's Entry into Jerusalem, with a throng of spectators 
in cinquecento costume, — clearly portraits of prominent Cre- 
monese; both of these frescoes were in very light tone and 
colouring. In contrast were the vividly hued modern can- 
vases, two on each side, before the last archways, — by 
Diotti. 

Overhead on the right the great frieze here recom- 
menced with Melone's excellent tableau of the Last Sup- 
per, of double width, finely composed, with a godlike, radiant 
figure of the Christ; his four following scenes — of Christ 
washing the Disciples' feet, praying on the Mount of Olives, 
being taken by the Soldiery, and appearing before Caiaphas 
— were not nearly so good, either in general disposition or 
in individual figures and expression. There succeeded the 
two frescoes whose authorship has been so much disputed, — 
the Christ before Pilate, and the Flagellation; Lanzi said 
that Cristoforo Moretti unquestionably painted them, in 
which he has been supported by many authorities; Crowe 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 363 

and Cavalcasalle, on the other hand, and likewise Mr. 
Berenson, have ascribed them to Romanino, who is said to 
have placed four pictures in this Duomo between 15 19 and 
1520. On closely studying these tableaux I noticed — 
what must be patent to any observer — the marked differ- 
ence in style of the first one, the Christ before Pilate, from 
the other, and from the following two scenes, as to which 
Romanino's title is not questioned; it is more dignified In 
spacing and pose, more natural yet graceful in composition 
and form, more excellent in perspective and charming in 
colour, — in a word, generally superior to the other three, 
which are alike in their disordered crowds of unreal people, 
improperly garbed in the fanciful costumes and plumed hats 
of the cinquecento. As the Christ before Pilate is evidently 
by another hand, and as it is certain that Moretti painted 
upon this frieze, I believe the picture to have been his work; 
and It demonstrates that he had genius of a high order. Of 
the three Romaninos, the last two represented Christ crowned 
with thorns, and His mockery by the soldiers. 

Pordenone's smaller frescoes were next reached, — smaller 
compared with his colossal scenes on the entrance-wall, but 
double the size of the ordinary panels of the frieze, and 
filling the last three bays of the right wall, toward the front. 
They depict Christ before Pilate, Christ and St. Veronica, 
and the Nailing to the Cross; and are of quite the same ex- 
treme characteristics as his larger works, being wonderful 
for their dramatic action and expression, which, though not 
pleasing, bring forcibly home to the observer the full horror 
of the great Tragedy, as he perhaps has never felt it before. 

To the last pillars of the nave before the choir are affixed 
two pulpits, each raised upon six marble columns, and adorned 
with four marble reliefs transferred from an old altar, — 
the work of Amadeo. That master was here for awhile, 



364 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

about 1490, engaged upon a shrine for the Egyptian martyrs, 
Mario, Marta, Abacone and Andlfaccio; which was duly 
finished, and long admired by the world In the local church 
of S. Lorenzo. When that edifice was demolished, the 
shrine was also, leaving only the eight reliefs surviving; 
which have been thus preserved for posterity by Insertion in 
the Duomo's pulpits. They represent, firstly, the Roman 
Emperor Claudius giving orders from his throne for the 
execution of the four Christians, who stand before him with 
vainly beseeching hands, guarded by several delightfully 
Mantegnesque soldiers; and, after that, the various tortures 
with which their martyrdom was effected. Here are in evi- 
dence all the peculiarities of Amadeo's manner, — the elon- 
gated and extremely slender limbs, the cadaverous heads with 
sharply defined bones and neck-tendons, and the cartaceous 
draperies, that " form a series of delicate lines (or rather 
ridges) which cross and recross each other like the meshes 
of a spider's web." ^ Yet they are charming, these marble 
scenes " in the pictorial style of Ghlberti," full of grace in 
their composition and figures, and of stirring sentiment in 
their expressive faces. 

Under the near-by altar, well to the front of the choir, 
I observed with interest the body of S. Omobuono, exposed 
behind a sheet of glass; it was dressed in most elaborate 
gold-embroidered robes and slippers, with the skeleton-head 
quite bare, its jaw horribly fastened by a piece of wire. Ac- 
corded this pre-eminent place in the temple by reason of his 
being the city's chief protector, in the Catholic mind, Omo- 
buono in his lifetime, oddly enough, was neither a bishop 
nor an ecclesiastic, but a simple tailor, — of whose guild he 
is therefore the patron. Having " ordered his affairs so well 
that he became very prosperous, all his money he spent in 

1 Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 365 

doing good to the sick and poor. — Once, while travelling 
with his family, he gave their whole store of provisions to a 
company of starving pilgrims, but found afterwards that 
angels had replenished his wallet with bread and wine. S. 
Omobuono died in peace, while kneeling In prayer before the 
crucifix In the church of S. Egldio." ^ 

Turning my attention to the aisles, I examined the few 
remains upon their vaulting of the frescoes with which they 
were covered, about 1350, by the primitive Polldoro Casella, 
and which Lord Lindsay considers a revival of the early 
Roman school, labelling them " very curious, — quite unlike 
either the Giottesque or the Byzantine manner." " The 
compositions " — he adds — " are chiefly from the patriarchal 
history. The colouring and drapery are very peculiar ; some 
of the figures are distinguished by a naivete and simplicity 
which occasionally rises towards dignity; but upon the whole 
they are Inferior, and even below par in point of mechanical 
excellence." ^ — The altars In the aisles are against the walls, 
in very shallow recesses, and their anconas or palas are mostly 
of the late Renaissance, and of little value ; the exception be- 
ing the beautiful canvas by Pordenone over the first altar to 
right, — a Madonna and saints in his best pietlstic style, so 
astonishingly different from his dramatic methods, as here 
evidenced; this picture is rich In tone and colouring, and of 
exquisite grace. It hardly seems possible that It could have 
been executed by the same hand that wrought those huge 
and violent frescoes, antipodal in every quality. The sec- 
ond altars hold two seicentist wooden anconas^ richly carved 
and painted white; that on the left being by BertesI da Cre- 
mona (1670), and that on right, — a really fine and lifelike 
representation of St. Euseblus raising a dead person to life — 

2 E. A. Greene's " Saints and their Symbols." 

3 Lindsay's " Christian Art," Vol. I. 



366 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

by Arighi da Cremona. The third altars are decorated with 
two canvases by Luca Catapane, of the close of the cinque- 
cento, — one of the ablest of the local decadents. 

Beyond that on the left I came suddenly into the northern 
transept, apparently twice the height of the nave itself, be- 
cause narrower, but similar in pillars, aisles, triforium, and 
gothic vaulting, with gothic windows and portals in the end 
wall. To an unprepared visitor it would be astonishing 
indeed thus to stumble unexpectedly upon another great edi- 
fice, quite concealed, and disconnected, — save for the low 
archway to the nave by the music-loft. Several altars were 
attached to each of its side walls, with most decorative palas. 
The last upon the eastern side was a very lovely Madonna 
and saints by Bernardino Ricca, who is said to have been a 
pupil of Perugino; and this panel, though damaged, cer- 
tainly exhibited a truly Umbrian tenderness and pietism, 
with a charmingly soft, golden tone. Adjacent upon the end 
wall was a marble relief in the style of Amadeo, under glass, 
— a panel detached from the sarcophagus containing the 
bodies of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, which reposes In the 
crypt. It represents a bishop, doubtless one of those two 
saints, giving food to the starving poor during a famine or 
pestilence. Its authorship, and that of the other five panels 
still attached to the sarcophagus, have been much disputed; 
they have been assigned by the differing authorities to vari- 
ous disciples of Amadeo, including GIov. Batt. Malojo of 
Cremona, Juan Domenlgo of Vercelli, Benedetto Briosco, 
and Geremia of Cremona; but Mr. Perkins, probably the 
best authority, states that they must either have been executed 
by Amadeo himself, or at least by pupils " working under his 
eye and carrying out his designs. — Classical tastes," he con- 
tinues — " rejects such pictorial treatment In marble ; but 
as we accept the license with a protest in Ghibertl's case, we 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 367 

may do so in that of Amadeo; for his also is a master- 
hand." * 

On two other altars against the eastern wall here, stand 
two brilliant canvases by the Campi, — the Pieta by Antonio, 
containing a strange, ugly-postured Christ, but with its idea 
well carried out, and Giulio's St. Michael slaying the dragon. 
Against the back of the organ-loft, in the archway leading 
to the nave, hangs a superb canvas by Boccaccino, this time 
easily to be studied, and revealing all that great master's 
surpassing qualities, — which ought to be far better appre- 
ciated by the general public: it depicts the Crucifixion, after 
the death of Christ, with Sts. Mary, John and Magdalen 
gathered sorrowfully waiting underneath ; the Cross outlined 
against an extraordinary bare background, of autumnal land- 
scape with naked trees, which in its wide extent of empty 
space superbly emphasizes the gloom of the Tragedy and sets 
forth the misery of the lifelike figures. A tremendous work 
is this, in its daring originality of conception, its fine execu- 
tion, and depth of feeling; while all the four forms are dis- 
tinguished by their beauty of modelling, pose, and tender 
expression. It is unfortunate that neither Venice nor Milan 
has any work of Boccaccino's on this high plane. 

Near it opens the chapel upon the left side of the choir, 
which is really the continuation of the left aisle, and conse- 
quently very deep. It contains a group of pleasing canvases : 
two excellent specimens of Malosso, — the Ascension and the 
Pentecost, showing how nearly he approached to the cinque- 
centist purity of line ; two of Antonio Campi, — St. John 
the Baptist, and the Baptist before H'erodias and Salome; 
and three of Giulio's delightful compositions, — the Birth of 
the Baptist, his Baptism of Jesus, and Salome with the sev- 
/ered head. — On the opposite, western side of this transept lies 

4 Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



368 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the sacristy; into which I was admitted by the verger, and 
shown, in one of its presses, the great silver crucifix of the 
Cathedral. This was not a work of the gothic period, but a 
Renaissance construction, having been executed about 1478 by 
Ambrogio da Pozzi and Agostino de' Sacchis, of Milan. It 
stood upon a modern base, by Monfredini, — fully three and a 
half metres in height, all told ; and was ornamented with the 
customary wealth of minute sculpture over every part of its 
surface, especially about the upright, including amidst the 
variegated designs an extraordinary number of little figures 
of angels, puttinij and saints. From the lower part of the 
upright diverged two additional, curving arms like cande- 
labra, purely for ornament, holding on their tops the figures 
of St. John and the Madonna, almost as large as the Sa- 
viour's, and standing just below Him. It is undeniably a 
marvel of the goldsmith's art, with few equals in size; and 
should not be missed by any visitor. In the same room I 
saw 22 mediaeval choir-books, handsomely illustrated. 

I paused again in the choir, to examine the beautiful sculp- 
tured stalls, which were carved at the same time as the cruci- 
fix, by Giov. Maria Platina, with inlaying by Pietro della 
Tarsia; Perkins insists that the brothers Campi lent their as- 
sistance, and it may be so. Then I stepped into the Chapel of 
the Host, — the prolongation of the right aisle — which was 
decorated by the Campi with another series of glowing pic- 
tures: by Antonio were the Last Supper, and the Magdalen 
washing Jesus' feet, — the former a bright, clear, striking 
composition, with a very noble Christ; by Giulio were the 
Raising of Lazarus, the Multiplication of the Loaves and 
Fishes, the Magdalen again, and her Repentance, — the latter 
a hazy scene with marked chiaroscuro. 

The south transept, now entered, proved to be quite sim- 
ilar to the other, except for the use of the round arch instead 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 369 

of the gothic ; which made it much less handsome. Over the 
low entrance-arch hung a large and curious picture by Ant. 
Campi, which, though undivided, represented three separate 
events, — the death of Haman, the supplication of Esther, 
and the triumph of Mordecai. Near it, against the organ- 
back, stood an interesting marble ancona of the quattrocento, 
which once belonged to a former altar dedicated to S. Nicolo ; 
its three main compartments, divided by ornate pilasters, 
contained the figures in bas-relief of Sts. Damiano, Nicolo 
and Omobuono, " simply composed, and draped in broadly 
disposed folds " ; ^ above these, in the pediment, was a strange 
half-figure of the Saviour rising from the tomb, of remarkable 
ugliness; the arabesque-decorations, on the contrary, were 
very tasteful and pretty. Tommaso (or Formato) Amici 
was one of its sculptors, and Francesco Majo (or F. Mabllo 
de Mazo) was the other. 

Three more specimens of Malosso's work decorated this 
transept : one over the last altar on the east side, another — a 
strong picture of the bound Christ — hanging on a pilaster 
near-by, and the third, an Annunciation in two pieces, hang- 
ing upon the end wall. Best of all was the charming Visita- 
tion by Gervasio Gatti, the first of his work I had found, 
standing over the first altar on the west; the figures, though 
over lifesize, were superbly moulded and lifelike, and expres- 
sive of the tenderest emotion. After inspecting it with pleas- 
ure, I descended into the crypt, which was spacious and very 
dark, and filled with the usual rows of columns, some of 
which were finely twisted in spiral curves. A candle was 
necessary to examine the various shrines, devoted to all the 
saints of Cremona, placed around the walls at regular inter- 
vals; some of the urns were beautifully adorned, with foli- 
ated reliefs and charming putti. The sarcophagus of Sts. 

s Perkins' " Italian Sculptors." 



370 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Peter and Marcellinus stood upon the high-altar; and I had 
the enjoyment of obsemng closely the remaining five reliefs 
of Amadeo, depicting scenes from their lives, — v^hich, of 
course, were in the same cartaceous but graceful manner as 
the one upstairs. I incline, however, to the belief that their 
execution was by the hands of assistants ; for they are certainly 
not up to the high level of Amadeo's work elsewhere. 

Another day was begun by a visit to the Baptistery. Its 
lofty octagonal drum proved to be, within, of most imposing 
effect; the brick walls, clear of incumbrances, rose majes- 
tically to a far height, pierced only by the little, double- 
arched, romanesque windows, that but slightly relieved the 
gloom ; and they were decorated only by three brick cornices 
of the arcaded, romanesque model ; in the centre of the dome 
was visible a lantern, so tiny that it gave the impression of a 
dizzy height. Roundabout the spacious floor extended a 
series of ornamental brick arches, three per side, on support- 
ing marble columns about fifteen feet high, with crude foliated 
capitals. Four of them, on the diagonal sides, contained 
single, round-arched windows; three others contained altars, 
at the right, left and rear, — the latter surmounted by an old 
wooden crucifix, surrounded by mourning saints frescoed on 
the wall. A single picture was present, a canvas of the 
Campi representing the Baptism of Christ, hanging upon the 
northeastern wall. In the centre stood the ancient octag- 
onal font, of red Verona marble, upon a larger base of the 
same form. Thus perfectly simple, and practically un- 
adorned, this ideal romanesque edifice of the dark I2th cen- 
tury, from the pure harmony of its lines and the majesty of 
its proportions, bestows a sense of power and solemnity such 
as is very seldom found, — the true religious effect aimed at 
by the romanesque architects, and which but one other style, 
the gothic, really attained. In such a structure, too, as no- 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 371 

where else, does one realise the full dignity and Impresslve- 
ness to which simple brickwork may rise. 

Crossing to the Palazzo Publico, and securing an attendant 
as guide, I mounted by the main stairway in the southeastern 
angle of the courtyard to its grand suite of rooms on the 
piano nobilcj running across the fagade. Arching the en- 
trance to the southern chamber, the Sala Grande^ stood a 
magnificent marble portal, sculptured in the elaborately deli- 
cate manner of the Milanese artists of the late quattrocento. 
Nothing more beautiful, more satisfying, could be conceived ; 
its proportions are perfect, its decorations tasteful and not 
too lavish. The recessed archway, about 12 feet high, holds 
in shallow niches upon its receding supports two charming 
youthful figures in high relief, of renaissance garb, about half 
of lifesize; the folds of whose draperies have a sufficiently 
cartaceous quality to indicate that the author was either 
Amadeo himself, or one of his pupils. The slender grace 
and lifelike moulding of these figures ; the design of the whole 
portal and its different parts, so very similar to Amadeo's 
doorways at the Certosa; the beautiful series of winged 
cherubs' heads adorning the face of the arch proper, to 
whose use he was so partial ; the medallions with fine Roman 
heads, held by sphinxes, in the narrow but rich frieze of con- 
voluted foliage, — another of his addictions ,* the highly 
finished beauty of the arabesques, candelabra, and columns of 
Roman arms, ornamenting the pilasters framing the arch, 
as well as its inner moulding; the balance, restraint, and 
superb execution of every feature and detail, of which none 
but a great master could have been capable ; — all of these 
things together point so cumulatively and insistently to 
Amadeo himself, as the only artist fulfilling all their require- 
ments, that to me at least there remains not the slightest 
doubt of his authorship of this exquisite treasure, 



372 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Within the Sala Grande, at its northern end, my eyes 
met another and larger archway of the Renaissance, of no- 
ble proportions and beautiful decoration ; but this time it was 
only a plaster model, taken from a locally celebrated portal 
in one of Cremona's private palaces, which has been removed 
to Paris. Around the walls hung a number of pleasing can- 
vases: the Falling of the Manna, by Casaglio (1590) and the 
Multiplication of the loaves and fishes, by Miradori of 
Genoa (both very large works) ; the Doubting of St. 
Thomas, by Giulio Campi; the Visitation, by Antonio 
Campi, — unusually fine ; the Madonna with three Domin- 
icans, by Crosaccio, — richly toned; and a large, joint compo- 
sition of the Campi, the Sacrifice of Abraham, of striking ex- 
pressiveness and beauty. In an adjoining smaller room hung 
a good Malosso, a large Annunciation and a Madonna and 
saints by Soiaro, and an oddly drawn fresco said to be brought 
from the Vatican, showing Platina before Pope Sixtus IV. 
The third front chamber proved to be the city council-hall, 
with rows of seats semicircularly arranged. 

Returning to my starting-point, the guard room, through 
another beautiful marble doorway opposite the first men- 
tioned, which was of the same period and very prettily 
adorned with columns and reliefs, — I found there another 
picture by Gatti, fairly good, representing the Martyrdom 
of S. Lorenzo. In the chamber of the city-administrator, 
in the northwestern corner of the building, I was shown the 
celebrated mantel by Giovanni Gaspare Pedoni (1502) — 
the native sculptor of independent ideas whom Vasari la- 
belled a '^ finissimo lavoratore di marmo'* In form it is 
simple, consisting of a narrow lintel supported by two slen- 
der, grooved columns with ionic caps, the latter of white and 
the former of red marble ; the cornice is very rich, and under 
it extends the frieze which gave Pedoni's name to lasting 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 373 

fame. It is one marvellous mass of the most Intricate and 
delicate arabesques, unequalled in their fertility of fancy and 
minute execution, yet well balanced and arranged. Through- 
out the vine-like tracery appear countless forms uniquely 
combining oddity with grace, including birds, beasts and rep- 
tiles of mythological grotesqueness, winged, compounded to- 
gether, or adorned with human heads; while in the centre, 
held by mermaids, is a wreathed medallion of exceeding 
charm, whose dainty relief shows the saint in prison that was 
fed by his daughter as a babe, with the jailor standing near; 
— perfect little figures, of remarkable, lifelike modelling. 
On the left side is another medallion, containing a portrait 
head of Gian. Giacomo Trivulzio, the French governor of 
Milan. That on the right side is unfinished, because Pe- 
doni died before its completion. 

Over this mantel I noticed an exceptionally fine canvas of 
Giullo Campi's, showing Giov. Baldessio returning as a vic- 
tor from a battle with the Milanese troops, which secured 
the release of the Cremonese from tribute, — with the public 
buildings of the city In the background. Two excellent 
paintings by Jacopo Bassano were here, also: Christ seized 
by the soldiers, and about to be crucified, — both powerfully 
treated and dramatic, with his usual strong light-effects. 

That afternoon I walked around the rear of the Baptistery, 
and to the sequestered little piazza on Its eastern side, ad- 
jacent to the southern side of the Duomo; occupying a part 
of the ground once covered by the Cathedral burylng-plot, 
and hence still called the Campo Santo. The old buildings 
upon the south of the area formerly constituted a portion of 
the close, and are still connected with the Duomo by an 
archway at the eastern end, leading to a large structure that 
projects from beside the transept ; under the archway extends 
a public passage to the beginning of several Important, di- 



374 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

verging streets of the eastern quarter. Over this little piazza 
looms the vast fagade of the southern transept, w^hich is very 
similar in its design and brick material to the northern 
front; the principal differences being that the porch is not 
of marble, and is less ornate, vi^hile the three great windows 
of the second storey are round-arched, with coupled, slim, 
marble shafts, one behind another, and the middle window 
contains four beautiful little pointed arches, with much dainty 
cotta-work. There are the same ponderous, arcaded frieze 
(or gallery) and the same imposing general effect. — The 
early mosaics with which the pavement of the Campo Santo 
was once adorned, I could obtain no trace of. 

Failing in that search, I struck westward down the street 
along the southern flank of the Municipio, stopping a moment 
to observe the huge brick tower at its southwestern corner, 
lofty, crenellated, and mediaeval-looking, yet which has been 
but recently completed; showing that the Cremonese still 
take pride in their towers, — as in the old days when the 
remarkable number of them bestowed the name of "La Citta 
Turrita." ^ It overlooks the adjacent Piazza Pescherie, 
which is used, not only for a fish, but also for a fruit- 
and vegetable-market; the wooden stalls run down its cen- 
tre, shaded by rows of maple trees. Southeastward extends 
the Via Beltrami, lined with old buildings painted in vivid 
hues of red, green, pink and yellow, — just as in Renaissance 
days. I continued southwestward, along the Via Tebaldi, 
which brought me after a quarter of a mile to the huge 
church of S. Pietro al Po, located within a stone's throw of 
the southwestern ramparts, toward which it faces across a 
bare, deserted piazza. 

^ The annalist Bordigallo related that the number In the early 
ctnquecento amounted to 64, besides those of the 77 churches and 
oratories and the 62 which fortified the walls. 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 375 

This edifice, probably next to the Duomo In size and 
adornment, was erected about 1550 by Ripari, with a lofty 
campanile, and a stuccoed fagade in the later renaissance 
style, having the usual tall pilasters and heavy cornice. Its 
interior proved to be finely proportioned; the lengthy nave 
being separated from the aisles by stucco piers faced with 
gilded pilasters, and from the apsldal choir by a shallow dome 
and transept. The extraordinary feature was the endless 
quantity of frescoes covering the vaulting, arches, walls, 
dome and apse, with infinite designs, architectural and fanci- 
ful, which were interspersed with panels, big and little, con- 
taining figures and varied scenes, — an enormous picture-gal- 
lery, of kaleidoscopic tints. And still more extraordinary, 
this was not worthless, decadent painting, but work of the 
height of the Renaissance, executed by master-hands: for it 
was done by the Campi and their assistants, — under the chief 
designing and direction of Antonio, with Vincenzo as the 
main aid, to whose genius such labour was particularly suited. 
With his own hand Antonio, however, painted all the tableaux 
of the aisles and transepts; the former being adorned with 
four scenic panels upon each bay of the vaulting, four upon 
the soffit of each archway, and others upon the insides of the 
piers, from top to bottom ; — all these amidst profuse designs, 
of lustrous colours and extreme decorativeness, doubtless exe- 
cuted largely by Vincenzo. 

Along the centre-line of the nave-vaulting extended the 
largest tableaux, ifive panels by Malosso representing the 
cardinal virtues amidst clouds, — the best-modelled of all the 
figures; the rest of the roof, with its many excellent scenes 
from the New Testament, along the slopes, was done by the 
talented Ermenigi da Lodi. The cupola was filled with a 
huge, unordered Gloria, by Lamberti of Florence, done at 
the same time. Yet another extraordinary feature became 



376 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

evident: every one of the altars in the edifice — the five in 
each aisle, within small recesses, and those of the transepts 
and choir — was adorned with a painting of the first order, 
many of them very beautiful. Those of the left aisle suc- 
cessively were: a highly finished Madonna and saints by G. 
Campi, an entrancing Adoration by B. Gatti, a pensive Holy 
Family by Antonio Campi, an injured but very fine panel of 
Madonna and saints by Gian. Fran. Bembo (1524), and a 
dramatic Martyrdom of St. Cecelia by G. Gatti (dated 
1601). In the left transept, on the end wall, was a very 
large and unusual tableau of the Murder of St. Thomas a 
Becket, by Natali (1657), and over the adjacent altar, a 
charming canvas of the Baptist preaching, by Ermenigi. In 
the choir, the high-altar-piece was a splendid work of An- 
tonio's, a Madonna in glory with saints below. On the 
ceiling of the adjacent sacristy appears his famous fresco 
of " that beautiful colonnade, above which appears the 
chariot of Elias in the distance ; " '' the chariot traverses 
the sky directly above the observer, and its galloping horses 
are executed with very spirited movement, grace of form, 
and lifelikeness of moulding, in spite of the unusual difficul- 
ties from the point of view. 

Of the above pictures by the Gatti, Lanzl remarks that 
Bernardino's Adoration " affords evidence of his power of 
imitating Correggio, without becoming a servile artist," and 
that Gervasio's S. Cecilia, " surrounded with angels in the 
Correggio manner, is a picture nobly colotired, and finished 
with exquisite care." Both are enlightening comments on 
the beauties of their style. — Another S, Cecilia was visible in 
the sacristy, standing with S. Giacinto below the Madonna 
in glory,— a most lovely form, in a scene of superb lighting, 
tone, and grace; Malosso was the author. He had still an- 

■^ Lanzi's " History of Painting." 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 377 

other picture on the wall of the right transept, — St. Mary of 
Egypt, — and two in the right aisle, over the first and fourth 
altars from the entrance : the latter a crowded Adoration, 
the former showing Saints Bernardino and Francesco, with 
the Holy Ghost and a swarm of putti in Heaven, above a fine 
landscape of greenish, dusky hue. The fifth altar held a 
S. Lucia being ordered to execution, by Gerv. Gatti; the 
third, a Deposition on wood by Battista Ricca (1521) of 
strange reddish-brown hue, and of much feeling; and the 
second, a remarkably fine Pieta by the cinquecentist, Lattan- 
zio Gambera of Cremona (pupil of Guilio- Campi), of 
splendid composition and expression, with a most noble figure 
of the Saviour, — a picture, said Lanzi, " highly esteemed by 
professors (of art), one of whom declared that he had never 
witnessed any other so exquisite in point of design, nor col- 
oured with so much delicacy, cleanness, and taste and soft- 
ness of tints: " another proof of the tremendous influence 
of those wonderful days, which sometimes inspired men of no 
extraordinary talents into short flights of genuine genius. 

Adjacent to the church on the north lie the remains of 
the monastery of the Padri Lateranensi,^ for which Bern. 
Gatti painted his celebrated, enormous fresco of the Multi- 
plication of the loaves and fishes. This was shown to me in 
the abandoned refectory, covering its end wall, — " one of 
the most copious paintings to be met with in any religious 
refectory, full of figures larger than life." Two hundred 
figures altogether are seen, many of them very lifelike and 
graceful ; the Saviour is blessing the loaves at the left, and the 
multitude sit or stand upon the right, eating hungrily, their 
masses most admirably and naturally disposed, — a feat that 
few masters could accomplish satisfactorily. On the side 

^ Here G. Vida passed his novitiate; after which, in 1511, he 
proceeded to Rome. 



378 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

wall hang two good canvases: the Doctors of the Church, 
by Malnardi, with charming angels flitting about, and a 
Madonna in glory with saints below, by Bern. Campi. 

A couple of blocks northwest of this stretches the Corso 
Vltt. Emanuele, on Its dignified way to the Porta al Po; 
without which, on following the Corso, I saw a broad tree- 
shaded avenue leading far and straightaway across the level 
to the rlven^ Here I noticed the grand opera house of Cre- 
mona, the splendid Teatro Ponchlelli, of 1807, faced with 
an Imposing classic portico on lofty corlnthlan columns; its 
interior, as I found later, is truly majestic, ornate with 
beautiful frescoes and endowed with four tiers of boxes and a 
gallery. Near-by, on the same southern side, rises the hand- 
some stuccoed renaissance fagade of the Palazzo Reale, 
which is now devoted mainly to the city's Museo CIvIco; 
it is adorned with two-storied corlnthlan pilasters, rising 
upon a rusticated basement, and supporting a rich cornice 
topped by statues. 

This building I visited on a subsequent day; being con- 
ducted at once to the first floor, by a staircase embellished 
with sculptures and two works of Malosso, and thence 
through a narrow hall containing fragments of early frescoes, 
more or less obliterated. Room I, to the right in front, con- 
tained bronzes, ivories, terracotta pieces, ceramic ware, cam- 
eos, books, etc., of both the Mediaeval and Renaissance 
epochs; Room II (proceeding westward) contained some 
tables of coins, and fine old coffers, surrounded by paintings 
of varied age, — chief amongst them a Civerchio, representing 
the Trinity with two Franciscan friars below, also a Mag- 
dalen by Bonlfazio (669) and an anonymous Madonna and 

9 This Viale del Po is the favourite drive and fashionable prome- 
nade of the modern Cremonese, who are also quite proud of the 
long bridge that carries it across the Po, here of imposing width. 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 379 

saints (667) in the half-length drawing and very golden, 
dreamy manner of Palma Vecchfo. Room III held the 
major part of the valuable local paintings: a characteristic, 
peaceful Madonna and saints by Boccaccino (116), another 
by his son Camillo, quite charming in grace and tone (142), 
another by Galeazzo Campi, showing that master's clearly 
drawn and richly coloured style (115), a panel of the 
Adoration by Tommaso Alenl, of excellent finish and golden 
tone (117), a panel of the Madonna with the sacred infants 
and a bishop, by Gian. Fran. Bembo (140A), and a finely 
modelled Madonna and saints by Bern. Campi (141) — 
peculiar for its shades of colour in a half-light. 

Room IV was devoted to other schools. Most prominent 
in value were: Lorenzo di Credi's exquisitely tender Ma- 
donna with the sacred Infants (197), Francia's beautiful 
Madonna and saints, half-length (200), Catena's Holy 
Family, In a bluish landscape under evening light (210), 
and a couple of works by unknown authors; which were 
a quattrocento Madonna with angels (164), and another 
of the same period, with four little angels (162), not by 
Crivelli, as stated. In Room V were some foreign paint- 
ings, mainly of the Flemish school, — of little worth, except 
Van Orleys' cathedral-interior (240) ; also two remarka- 
ble stone reliefs,-— one very archaic and quaint, the other a 
cinquecento battle-scene with centaurs. From this I trav- 
ersed a corridor lined with etchings, and photographs of 
Boccacclno's frescoes in the Duomo, well worth studying, — 
giving a nearer view of them and revealing clearly their 
superb qualities; at the end appeared two rooms with modern 
paintings, noteworthy only for the three fine works of GIov. 
Bergamaschl. 

There remained the second floor, which, though not en- 
riched with paintings, proved to contain several interesting 



38o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

collections: one of renaissance cartoons and engravings, an- 
other of specimens of natural history, a third of souvenirs 
of the Risorgimento ; and a fourth — most interesting of 
all — of relics of Cremona's great violin industry, including 
personal remembrances of the immortal masters and their 
families. 

Halfw^ay between this place and the Piazza Garibaldi 
{supra) and a couple of blocks v^^est of Corso Campi, sits 
the church next in importance, and the next object of inter- 
est proceeding northward, — S. Agostino, — or, as it is some- 
times called, S. Giacomo in Breda. It is outwardly a typical 
brick church of the trecento^ with an unplastered fagade 
looking westward upon a little grass-grown piazza; having 
three plain gothic doorways, five circular windows overhead, 
and a gothic, arcaded frieze of brick columns and arches; — 
in other words, as Mr. Street said, " a very bad second 
edition of the cathedral front." Within, however, as I 
discovered one morning, all is decadent stucco-work of the 
later cinque cento; especially the frescoed roof, which took 
the place of the original loftier, gothic vaulting, destroyed 
by an earthquake. The long, barrel-vaulted nave, flanked 
by stucco piers enclosing the original stone columns, with a 
plaster statue elevated before each pier, — has no transept, 
but an apsidal choir raised three steps; chapels extend along 
the right aisle only; the second of which is an extraordinary 
Calvary of stucco figures, very natural and vividly expressive, 
enacting the different scenes of the Passion, — executed by G. 
B. Barberini of Como. 

On the entrance-wall, and on the fifth altar to right, I 
observed two works of the Campi, the latter by Galeazzo, 
— a highly finished panel of Madonna and Child ; over the 
first altar was a beautiful Pieta, accounted one of the best 
works of Malosso; the sixth altar held Cremona's lovely 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 381 

specimen of Perugino, from which Boccaccino is said to have 
largely derived his best pietistic style, — a Madonna with 
Sts. James and Augustine, under an arched portico backed 
by the blue sky. It is a perfect example of Perugino, of that 
rich, mellow tone and golden light, soft splendour of finish, 
and rounded forms and faces of blissful expression, which 
are so well known to us all. The picture is signed, and 
dated 1494. The high-altar-piece is a Mainardi, of 1590, — 
the Saviour in glory, with St. Augustine and others; and 
another work of his decorates the fourth altar from the 
entrance, on the left. Near it are a most interesting and 
excellent pair of frescoes by Bonifazio Bembo, — the simple, 
kneeling, portrait-forms of Francesco Sforza and his wife 
Bianca, finely characterised; also a beautiful head of Christ 
on wood (by an unknown cinquecentist hand), with very 
sad eyes. The seventh altar here holds a lovely group of four 
female saints, by Ger. Gatti ; the second, a striking Vision of 
St. Anthony, by Malosso; and the first, a rather graceful 
Annunciation by Ant. Campi. 

Halfway again between this edifice and the Piazza Gari- 
baldi, I reached the little church of S. Margherita, which 
Giulio Campi decorated for the Abbate Vida: a Renaissance 
basilica, with three altars against each side, the walls 
and vaulting covered by brilliant designs interspersed with 
regular scenic panels. The little tableaux in the last, repre- 
senting scenes from the Old Testament, were exquisitely 
done, — really better than the large pictures with lifeslze 
figures, upon the altars, which depicted successive scenes 
from the life of Christ. The history of the Saviour ended 
in two large frescoes: the Crucifixion, over the triumphal 
arch, and the Resurrection — badly injured, like many others 
— over the entrance. In the spandrels of the small win- 
dows above the cornice were some of the prettiest figures 



382 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

present, — " lone females," charmingly modelled and coloured. 
The exterior of this unique church, which occupies a place 
in art all by itself, resembles a dainty brick temple, with a 
pediment upheld by four brick pilasters, and one round win- 
dow over the portal. 

In thinking over the gaudiness of these late-Renaissance 
churches, so offensive to northern ideas of religious propriety, 
I recall Taine's vehement indictment of them, as " all be- 
dizened with their finery. This Pagan Catholicism is 
offensive," he wrote; "sensuality can always be detected 
under the mantle of asceticism." ^^ But those who are thus 
offended have the wrong point of view: bright, luxurious 
decoration is as natural to the sun-bathed Italians as gothic 
gloom to the sunless northerner, and is correspondingly neces- 
sary — as the Jesuits long since discovered — to spur their 
religious feelings. Mr. Taine himself exposed the truth of 
this: "A man of warm blood, with brightly coloured, pas- 
sionate conceptions, is possessed through the eyes. I have 
seen many who believed themselves rationalists and Vol- 
taireans; a funeral ceremony, the sight of a Madonna in 
her glittering shrine amidst the flashing of tapers and clouds 
of incense, put them beside themselves, and brought them 
to the ground on their knees. — ^The spring within us is not 
reason nor reasoning, but imagery. Sensuous appearances 
once introduced into our brains, they shape and repeat them- 
selves, and take root there; so that afterwards, when we 
act, it is in the sense of and through the impulsion of forces 
thus produced. — [Thus] without poetry, without philosophy, 
without any of the nobler impulses of religion, man is got 
possession of." It was this *' methodical and mechanical 
control of the imagination," that was the Jesuits' great 
stroke of genius; by it the Roman Church manoeuvred to 

10 H. Taine's "Italy." 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 383 

save itself from the consequences of man's awakening to a 
new mental life. For, " after the universal, glorious Re- 
naissance, — the ascetic religion of the Middle Ages could 
no longer subsist. The world could no longer be regarded 
as a dungeon ; " ^^^ and man was learning to think for him- 
self.— 

Throughout this main part of the western half of Cremona, 
from S. Pietro to S. Margherita, the streets are remarkably 
broad and straight, crossing at right angles, as they were 
made by the Romans twenty centuries ago; and the sedate, 
regular, stuccoed houses are practically .unchanged from 
later Renaissance days, — significant relics of that era of 
prosperity. Everything here indicates the truth of Sis- 
mondi's picture of a Lombard city of that epoch, — " sur- 
rounded with thick walls, terraced, and guarded by towers, 
for the most part paved with broad flag-stones, while the 
inhabitants of Paris could not stir out of their houses without 
plunging into the mud. Stone bridges of an elegant and 
bold architecture were thrown over rivers ; aqueducts carried 
pure water to the fountains. The palaces of the podestas 
and signorie united strength with majesty. — Industry, the 
employment of a superabundant capital, the application of 
mechanism and science to the production of wealth, secured 
the Italians a sort of monopoly throughout Europe; they 
alone offered for sale what all the rich desired to buy; and 
notwithstanding the losses occasioned by their own oft- 
repeated revolutions, their wealth was rapidly renewed, — 
Every one gained, and spent little ; manners were still simple 
— and the future was not forestalled by accumulated 
debt." 11 

I next turned my attention to the northern section, on 

10a H. Talne's "Italy." 
, 11 Sisraondi's " Italian Republics." 



384 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

both sides of the central thoroughfare; commencing with 
the latter itself, at Piazza Garibaldi, which lies about 500 
yards southeast of Porta Milano. Immediately on the south 
of the piazza I observed the grand old gothic palace of 
the quattrocento built by the noble family of the Trecchi; 
with whose head, the Marchese of his day, Garibaldi stayed 
awhile in 1862, addressing the people as usual from the 
windows. Here also the Emperor Charles V lodged, in 
1540. Its basement has heavy, receding walls of grey stone; 
the upper storeys, stuccoed, and painted in soft stripes of 
red and yellow, contain rows of pointed windows in imita- 
tion red-marble frames, with reliefs of arms, armour and 
human heads in their lunettes; the cotta string-course is 
prettily designed, and the stuccoed cornice is topped by brick 
battlements. Another gothic palace, very old, crumbling 
and deserted, stands on the west side of the square, — a 
brick building of the trecento, supported on a heavy gothic 
arcade, with an arcaded frieze and battlements; it was the 
former Archivio Notarile. 

Directly opposite this picturesque old structure, in very 
marked contrast, rose the classic edifice of S. Agata, with 
a huge portico upheld by six great ionic columns, entirely of 
white stucco. That this was a modern addition to an aged 
building of the quattrocento, was shown by its weather-worn 
brick campanile, rising some way back, pierced near the sum- 
mit by several tiers of double- and triple-arched windows. 
Its interior was also renovated; the long, low nave, flanked 
by stucco piers faced with pilasters, was frescoed with mod- 
ern designs and occasional scenic panels, — the aisles like- 
wise. Before the choir was a small dome, and a presbytery 
formed by the cessation of the aisles and piers; chapels 
flanked the aisles for half their length, widely open like 
arcades. Immediately to right stood a beautiful Renaissance 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 385 

tomb, that of the Marchese Fran. Trecchi, executed in 
1502 by Cristoforo Romano; its sepulchre was covered with 
the most exquisite foliated reliefs, and surmounted by two 
putti at the ends. Upon the entrance-wall hung two pictures 
of the Campi, and in the choir I found seven more: four 
large frescoes by Giulio, — early works, — setting forth the 
martyrdom of St. Agatha, and composed in the bold, violent 
manner of Pordenone, — and three smaller canvases. In the 
presbytery, to left, was a Boccaccino, a Holy Family with 
the Magdalen, not so highly finished and carefully executed 
as was his wont, but of his usual warm tone and delightful 
colouring. 

Following Corso Garibaldi northwestward, I passed soon 
upon the left a large imposing Renaissance palace, having 
a high marble base, rustica upon both of its storeys, stone 
pilasters, and one of those curious, curving cornices found 
at Cremona. Shortly beyond, on the right, appeared the 
rococo Palazzo Maggi erected by Bramante Sacchi of Cre- 
mona, with a noble cinquecento portal, and a row of singu- 
lar but interesting iron gargoyles, fashioned as large 
winged griffins, in whose fierce open jaws the big tusks 
showed wickedly. Just beyond this again, on the right side 
of a broad piazza, rose the very old, little church of S. 
Luca, with the plaster half crumbled from its brick facade ; it 
had a fine early porch, resting on slender red marble col- 
umns rising from mediaeval lions, its round arch being 
adorned with gothic pendants and a fanciful architrave, both 
of terracotta. The beautiful rose window above this was 
also of terracotta, likewise the splendid, interwoven, gothic 
frieze and cornice. To the left angle of the front was at- 
tached a later building of the Renaissance era ( 1503), erected 
in glowing red brick, — a three-storied octagon tipped with 
an open lantern ; this was the Baptistery, as I learned, — the 



386 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

so-called Capella del Crista Risorto. It was symmetrical 
in form and very tasteful in design, being adorned with 
coupled pilasters on each storey, between the large single 
arches below, and the double-arched windows of the upper 
floors. It is said to contain good frescoes of 1590, of the 
Campi school; but I was unable to enter, owing to the re- 
fractory state of the old rusty lock. The long, low, dark 
interior of the church proved to be cheaply modernised, with 
garish frescoing, and no old painting except some remnants 
of trecento saints in the sacristy. 

The northern side of the piazza here was closed by the 
Porta Milano; so returning southward a couple of blocks, I 
turned eastward upon the Via Bertesi, a cross-street leading 
shortly to the broad Via Palestro, — passing midway upon the 
former the early-Renaissance Palazzo Crotti, noted for con- 
taining some of Pedoni's work. But again I was unable to 
enter. Via Palestro, running southeastward parallel with 
Corse Garibaldi, is .finally joined by the latter, becoming 
then the Corso Campi. Among its buildings are a number 
of stately old palaces, — foremost the Palazzo Stanga, the 
ancestral home of the prominent family of that name. This 
soon appeared upon the west side, with a frightfully baroque, 
stucco fagade; but within was one of the most striking and 
lovely things in Cremona, — a large courtyard magnificently 
adorned with terracotta sculptures of the Renaissance. Upon 
its rear side rose a glorious cotta fagade of several storeys, 
resting on a colonnade of granite columns, embellished with 
a vast mass of beautiful figured reliefs on every floor, and 
glistening radiantly in its rich, light-crimson hue. Nothing 
more beautiful in an architectural way could be imagined ; its 
erection marked a climax in Lombard terracotta-work. 

All the arches are overlaid with mouldings of the most 
delicate and varied patterns, both the single ones of the first 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 387 

two storeys and the double windows of the third; those of 
the ground-arcade being crowned by a frieze of dainty de- 
sign, with medallions containing busts upon each keystone. 
Over these, as a sort of balustrade to the second storey, 
runs a course of delightful, agitated, little figures, engaged 
in labouring, combating, driving chariots, etc., — remarkably 
lifelike and graceful; upon which rise five transcendently 
lovely, double-arched windows, enclosed in rounded frames 
of rich cotta plaques, with bust-medallions in the lunettes, 
and the double arches decorated all around with fanciful 
mouldings and other plaques. Between their frames are 
Corinthian pilasters with charmingly adorned faces, and above 
them extends a row of circular, paneless apertures into the 
garret, similarly moulded, and surrounded by square frames 
composed of triangular plaques. Between the latter rise 
finely modelled caryatides on short pilasters, supporting the 
heavy, classic cornicione. The whole effect is opulent and 
gorgeous beyond any cotta-work I have ever seen. The 
entrance-wall, built up in stucco with the same general de- 
sign and painted a terracotta-red, lacks both its glossy finish 
and its series of delicate reliefs; yet away from the other, it 
would be quite effective. The side wall on the left is of 
plain stucco-work, upon the continued ground arcade with 
granite columns. 

This palace was of further interest to me In being the 
home of that Marchese Ildefonso Stanga who has done so 
much toward setting Lombard agriculture on its feet again, 
by the introduction of modern implements and scientific 
methods. This he has accomplished by turning his estate 
near Cremona into a model farm, vast in size but complete 
ift every detail; where for many years he has resided and 
given his personal care to each improvement. Those same 
estates had been abandoned by his father, for the gay life of 



388 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Milan, according to that custom of absenteeism which was 
the ruin of so much of Lombardy. The son, during his 
youthful years of schooling at Cremona, was used, as he has 
said, occasionally to walk past this grand ancestral home, 
then long deserted by the family, which " with its pictures 
and its carved oak furniture, lay with none to wake its 
echoes," cobwebbed and falling to ruin. " Young as he was, 
he felt a sort of compunction at the sight of the empty house 
with its air of melancholy abandonment." ^^ He began to 
ask himself why this should be; and it led, directly and 
eventually, to his setting himself the lif ework — though 
trained as a lawyer — of putting his ancient estates and 
palaces once more into first-class condition, by developing 
the land through modern methods. 

He prepared himself for this by years of patient study 
of scientific agriculture as now revealed, in all its branches, 
then settled upon his estates, and erected with infinite care 
that model husbandry, of rural life and labour, which has 
exerted such a startling, revivifying influence upon the amazed 
Lombards. From the old material and moral chaos, common 
to most estates, he has constructed an ideally happy and pros- 
perous community, whose hundreds of workers, trained by 
their patriarchal lord in the latest scientific ways and to the 
most modern implements, labouring under his sapient eye 
with the precision of clockwork, have renovated the vigour 
of the land, produced wealth from the abandoned soil, and 
constructed a clean, comfortable village surrounded by numer- 
ous perfect farm-buildings, where they lead moral and happy 
lives. Amongst them dwells the Marchese in his beautiful 
villa, joyous in his bucolic serenity, and in the great example 
which he has set his countrymen. His work should be seen 

12 " Lombard Studies," by Countess Evelyn Martinengo-Cesaresco. 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 389 

by any visitor who can afford an afternoon for the trip. 
This splendid old palace, from which It all started, stands 
no more deserted and falling to ruin, but replete with evi- 
dences of prosperity and habitation. 

Shortly beyond it, on the left, I passed another very pleas- 
ing palazzo of brick and terracotta : its first storey, of oblong 
windows in attractive cotta frames, being crowned by a 
string-course of delightful figured reliefs like that I had just 
seen, interspersed with festoons, busts, sea-horses, etc., all 
of exquisite grace in composition and moulding; while the 
upper storeys were adorned with rows of similarly framed 
oblong windows, and a handsome cotta frieze and cornice. 
— "What prodigality of thought and invention" — wrote 
Symonds — " has been lavished on the terracotta models of 
unknown Italian artists ! What forms and faces — beautiful 
as shapes of dreams, and, like dreams, so airy that we think 
they will take flight and vanish — lean to greet us from 
cloisters and palace-fronts in Lombardy! " ^" 

Turning a short way up the second street to left, Via 
Ugolino Dati, I came to the great Renaissance palace of 
the Dati family, which was given by the last Marchesa 
Dati, In 1826, to be an eleemosynary institution. Its four- 
storied stucco fagade, imitating rusticated grey-stone, was 
pierced by imposing rows of baroque windows, and had a 
handsome portal with a doric cornice, upheld by detached 
doric columns ; over whose balcony rose four large Corinthian 
pilasters. The heavy cornice was supported by fanciful 
long consoles composed of masques, leaves, and four young 
fauns (in the centre). To west of it was a large extension 
of the hospital, built in 1836 through the Marchesa's benefi- 
cence; opposite stood another late-Renaissance palace, of 

13 J. A. Symonds' " Fine Arts." 



390 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Palladian style, above whose rusticated base, with fancifully 
barred windows, rose a central pavilion of six corinthian 
half -columns. 

Traversing the entrance-way of Palazzo Dati, I stood im- 
mediately in its stately cortile, ennobled by fine loggias on 
the front and rear, whose brown stucco arches were sustained 
by coupled doric columns of granite; that in the rear being 
of one storey only, with the greenery of a pleasant garden 
visible behind it. Entering thence the doorway at the left 
end of the front loggia, I had before me the building's cele- 
brated stairway, occupying from ground to roof a well of 
extraordinary dimensions: from the first landing, straight 
ahead, two flights branched right and left to secondary land- 
ings, whence four other flights mounted to the piano nobile 
at front and rear; around that floor ran an imposing gallery, 
of stucco arcades upon handsome columns of brownish, 
streaked marble, arranged in pairs; between them, and along 
the various flights, ran heavy balustrades of brown and grey 
marbles. Above the arcades rose white walls relieved by 
corinthian marble pilasters, and niches holding busts of the 
bygone Marchesi Dati. On the lofty vaulting glistened the 
lustrous tints of a huge fresco, — the Greek gods in Olympus ; 
and three smaller ones, of similar subjects, adorned the ceil- 
ings of the gallery and the entrance-arch. The whole effect 
was surpassingly grandiose, symmetrical, and finely coloured ; 
a remarkable example of the . magnificence with which the 
nobles of the late Renaissance built their mansions. — The 
hospital proper was well worth visiting as a further example 
of the high degree of comfort, cleanliness and care with which 
such Italian institutions are maintained. 

Another day I devoted to the eastern portion of the city, 
with its tortuous, narrow, medieval streets: starting from 
the hotel directly eastward, on Via Mazzini, from which, 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 391 

after several blocks, the Corso Umberto diverged to the 
northeast. Upon the latter, to right, I soon reached the 
charming renaissance fagade of the palace of the Monte di 
Pieta, considered the handsomest secular edifice in the city. 
The basement was of stucco, imitating rusticated stone, with 
a graceful marble portal; over which extended a splendid 
cotta string-course, containing figures of centaurs ridden 
by a man and a woman, medallions held by human-headed 
serpents, fine Roman busts, and numerous other figures. 
The upper storeys were pierced by oblong windows with 
rich cotta frames, widely spaced and of striking effect, sep- 
arated by slender, red marble half-columns, rising from base- 
ment- to frieze; the latter consisting of a row of circular 
cotta frames, alternately open and filled with projecting heads 
of Indians, warriors and Romans. 

The court, however, was still more attractive, — one of 
the few most delightful remembrances of Lombard archi- 
tecture that I possess. Fairylike arcades extended round 
three sides, of two storeys upon two of the sides ; the ground 
arcades being sustained on fanciful ionic columns, or pillars 
faced with similar pilasters, adorned with arabesque-can- 
delabra in stucco relievo; while the rounded cotta archi- 
traves were decorated with romanesque spirals and zigzags. 
Over them ran the pleasantest feature, the figured cotta 
string-course, rather classic in Its panels of dancing bac- 
chantes and centaurs, but richly glowing with a hue more 
modern. There were centaurs drawing chariots laden with 
revellers, and others caught by members of the gentle sex; 
they reminded me of Symonds' characterisation of Lombard 
terracotta reliefs, that " they almost Invariably display a 
feeling for beauty more sensuous, with less of scientific pur- 
pose in their naturalism, than Is common in the Tuscan 
style." The surmounting terracotta cornice, and that of the 



392 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

upper storey, were very prettily designed. The upper arcades 
added grace to the scene by the lightness of their airy arches 
and slim columns, interspersed with plants and flowers, — 
the third side, in place thereof, showing a series of lovely 
triple windows. 

On the fourth side, toward the street, the ground-loggia 
of cotta arches had been built up, and topped with a most 
curious painted frieze, in grisaille, representing scenes of the 
camp and battlefield, with a walled city at the extreme left, 
— Cremona itself, being besieged by Emperor Vespasian. 
This was done in 1490 by some artists of the school of 
Mantegna, for the Marchese Fodre, who erected the palace. 
In the western front room, called the Salone Pre'ciosa, I 
saw numerous little portraits of the Marchese and his family, 
presumably executed by the same hands, placed overhead 
between the springings of the beams; they possessed con- 
siderable charm ; the old oak ceiling itself was very handsome, 
and upon the walls were restorations of the original frescoed 
designs of garlands, etc. In another room upstairs were 
some faded frescoes by Altobello Melone. 

Adjacent to this on the east I observed an impressive 
palace in the Palladian style, with tall ionic half-columns 
rising from a rusticated basement, and a fine courtyard sur- 
rounded by ponderous stone columns and arches. Farther 
along rose other distinguished edifices, some of them very 
handsome, — especially No. 24, on the left, whose window- 
frames, pilasters, and string-courses were decorated with 
captivating renaissance designs in bas-relief. Two blocks 
before reaching the Porta Venezia, I turned to the left down 
Via Bernardino Gatti (pleasing name) to the quaint old 
church of S. Abbondio, said to be one of the few most ancient 
in Cremona. Its low, orange-coloured front was double, evi- 
dently concealing a nave and a large chapel, — the latter 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 393 

upon the right, surmounted by an octagonal drum, the former 
topped by a rococo gable with dwarf-obelisks at the angles. 
Within the chapel, my gaze was at once drawn to a beautiful 
Coronation of the Madonna frescoed upon its right wall, 
containing many charming angels surrounding the Throne 
with melody: a most gracefully disposed and modelled pic- 
ture, finely toned and coloured, and sufficient in itself to re- 
veal its author, Melone, as the possessor of true genius. On 
the left wall was a quattrocento relief of the Madonna and 
Child, also exceptionally pleasing. 

The interior of the church proved most extraordinary, re- 
modelled into a form absolutely unique: along each side of 
the low, round-arched nave extended a sort of gallery, com- 
posed of a series of four renaissance arches, each arch flanked 
by a couple of oblong niches containing plaster statues, with 
pilasters framing the triple combination so formed, and with 
supporting corner-columns to the arch itself; the archway 
proper in each case was fairly deep, covering a side-altar 
adorned with bright-hued statuettes. All these triple open- 
ings, with their pilasters, columns, arches, and spandrels, as 
well as the frieze of stucco reliefs running overhead, were 
gilded with dazzling effect. Upon which was superimposed 
the gay frescoing of the vaulting, done by the Campi, in those 
elaborate and variegated designs that flowed so richly from 
Antonio's fertile fancy, interspersed regularly by the usual 
panelled tableaux; of these there were four large ones down 
the centre-line, depicting saints in glory, and four smaller 
upon each' side, in the lunettes next the walls, holding lifesize 
prophets. The combined effect was so rich as to be cloying. 
There was no transept; but the narrower, domed choir had 
been also decorated by the Campi: the cupola, with a large 
fresco of the Virgin in glory, surrounded by a host of angels; 
the apse-wall (high-altar-piece) by a richly toned canvas of 



394 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Gfulio's, — the Madonna with saints and putti, well com- 
posed though not very graceful. Much more grace was in 
his Madonna of the adjacent r^ar chapel, before whom prayed 
S. Nazzaro at an altar, — a well-known work of the master's 

(1527). 

Close behind S. Abbondio rise the northern city walls, still 
quite intact with all their bastions, and accompanied by the 
ancient moat. Inside the ramparts stretches a promenade 
called the Passeggio Pubblico, from Porta Venezia to the 
distant Porta Milano, which is well worth a little of the 
visitor's time. On the present occasion, however, I took 
the narrow Vicolo Umuliati westward, which soon brought 
me to the curious church of SS. Eusebio e Facio, facing 
northward, preceded by a fore-court of ancient style, that 
was surrounded by arcades with coupled granite columns.^^^ 
Opposite stood the Ospedale Civico, or city-hospital,— a 
grand institution, of impressive size and accommodations. 
As Lady Morgan said, " The Italians have very universally 
manifested a bias towards this mode of charity, and the first 
families of the country have occupied themselves in the de- 
tails of hospital-establishments, while different religious or- 
ders have devoted their labours to the same useful end; and 
much must naturally be expected from the operation of so 
many causes." ^* — Just to west of this piazza stands the old 
church of S. Siro, itself of little interest, but raising far 
aloft a quaint gothic campanile, whose brick walls are 
adorned with terracotta cornices, and three tiers of pointed 
windows, single and double-arched. 

Though the 77 churches of Cremona in the Renaissance 

isaXhis is very remarkable and interesting, as being one of the 
two or three edifices only, in all north-Italy, that possess the pre- 
Lombard, early Roman-basilica type of entrance-court, 

14 Lady Morgan's " Italy," Vol. Ill, 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 395 

period have been greatly reduced, through various causes, 
there are still about forty; and a number of them, besides 
those mentioned, are slightly worth visiting, especially by 
the stranger who makes a long stay: chief among them, to 
be short, S. MIchele, the eldest, with its Crucifixion by 
Antonio CampI; SS. Glacomo e VIncenzo, with its Annun- 
ciation by Gerv. Gatti and Its St. Joseph by Francesco Boc- 
cacclno; SS. Pletro e Marcellino, where Gervasio Gatti, in 
1604, left upon the high-altar a picture of S. Marcellino 
administering baptism to S. Paolina; and S. Pelagia, with its 
fine frescoes by Gulllo Campi, besides its monument to 
Girolamo VIda, who lies buried there. In many others will 
be found works of the Campi, of an excellence that in less 
favoured cities would cause them to be prominently mentioned 
to the traveller.^^ 

But after all, there still remained for me to visit the 
second most Important edifice of Cremona, in an artistic 
sense, — of Cremona, but not in It ; for S. SIgismondo lies 
nearly two miles beyond the eastern walls, just off the old 
highway to Mantua. The steam tramway to Casalmaggiore 
makes a stop close by; which one can take either at Porta 
Venezia, or at Its starting point near the railway station. 
But a public vettura is much more convenient, and not ex- 
pensive. I drove out through Porta Venezia one bright 
summer afternoon, thinking of the days when the army of the 
Republic of St. Mark lay encamped thereabout, when Car- 
magnola and Malatesta struggled for the city's possession, 
and Colleone seized the tower by night. Nothing of that 
bloody past was visible in these smiling, luxuriant fields, 
stretching away with few trees to the horizon. We fol- 
lowed the turnpike for the required distance, then turned 

15 Consult, for these minor churches, the Illustrasione Storica, etc., 
di Cremona. 



396 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

to the right, and quickly drew up before the isolated church, 
which looked toward the town. Its weather-beaten, stuccoed 
fagade was in no way noteworthy, being of the typical high- 
Renaissance pattern that prevailed before the Palladian era. 
On entering, however, there burst upon my eyes another 
such glory of infinite colours and innumerable fair designs as 
that I had beheld at S. Pietro al Po, — although the tints had 
been perceptibly toned down by age from their primeval 
brightness. It was a fair-sized, aisleless basilica, without 
visible transepts, domed above the spacious choir, having six 
chapels on each side opening freely into the nave through 
large arches, so that their refulgent wealth of decoration 
seemed a part of the main body. They were separated by 
heavy piers faced on three sides by beautiful pilasters, adorned 
with arabesques; and arabesques of most varied, luxurious 
design covered the handsome vaulting, divided by ribs Into 
three large bays. Down the middle of the roof extended 
four big tableaux of still resplendent colouring: the first, a 
Descent of the Holy Ghost, in which Giulio Campi is seen 
at the zenith of his power; the second, of double size, an 
Ascension of powerful composition and striking perspective, 
— the Christ rising In clouds, surrounded by a beautiful 
host of cherubim and little angels; the remaining two, con- 
siderably smaller, placed together In the third bay, — a 
Resurrection, and a Jonah vomited forth by a whale-dragon, 
before a couple of very surprised fishermen. On the side 
slopes of the bays were six huge seated figures of prophets. 
Over the side arches extended an attractive frieze of putti, 
including the busts of the twelve Apostles, four In each bay; 
above which opened a row of circular windows, topped by 
triangular lunettes containing the loveliest-conceivable com- 
positions of foliated tracery, Interspersed with putti, mytho- 
logical beasts, and voluptuous nude figures, all on a grand 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 397 

scale, and superbly executed and coloured ; upon the shoulders 
of the side arches reclined lifesize stucco-figures, male and 
female; the faces of the piers and pilasters, the sides of the 
piers, and sofKts of the arches, were all painted in happy ara- 
besques, with musical instruments and putti; while the front 
wall was embellished with a large Annunciation. 

All this frescoing of the nave was the work of the Campi ; 
and so was the lavish decoration of the chapels, consisting of 
frescoes, canvases, and dainty stucco-work upon some of the 
ceilings in the manner of Primaticcio,— doubtless moulded 
by one who had learned from the latter, at near-by Mantua. 
These chapels, as Lanzi justly said, " contain almost every 
variation of the art, — large pictures, small histories, cameos, 
stuccoes, chiaroscuros, grotesques, festoons of flowers, pilas- 
ters, with gold recesses, from which cherubs of the most 
graceful form seem to rise, with symbols adapted to the saint 
of that altar; in a word, the whole of the paintings and their 
decorations are the work of the same genius, and sometimes 
of the same hand." The first chapel on the left, for in- 
stance, has adornments by Giulio alone, including two large 
canvases; and the third was embellished by Bernardino, — 
the shrine of St. Cecilia. In its ceiling of delicate stucco 
reliefs I saw four little painted panels, once very pleasing, 
but now injured ; and upon the walls, two large canvases, in- 
cluding Bernardino's famous St. Cecilia at the Organ, — ex- 
quisite in sentiment, in loveliness of contour and moulding, 
and glow of tone and colour. 

" Nothing " — continued Lanzi — " can be conceived more 
simply beautiful, and more consistent with the genius of the 
best age, than his picture of St. Cecilia playing upon the 
organ, while St. Catherine stands near her; and above them 
is a group of angels, apparently engaged with the two inno- 
cent virgins in pouring forth strains worthy of Paradise. 



398 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

This painting, with its surrounding decoration of cherub- 
figures, displays his mastery in grace. Still he appears to 
no less advantage in point of strength in his figures of the 
Prophets, grandly designed" (upon the vaulting). The 
fifth chapel had another charming stucco ceiling; it, and all 
the others upon this side, were adorned with canvases, and 
frescoes more or less damaged, by the other members of the 
Campi school. 

In the dome over the choir appeared Bernardino's master- 
piece, a superb though much faded Gloridj — " with which " — 
continues Lanzi — " few in Italy will bear a comparison, 
and still fewer can be preferred for the abundance, variety, 
distribution, grandeur, and gradation of the "figures, and for 
the harmony and grand effect of the whole." Beneath it, 
on each side, were carved and inlaid oak stalls, surmounted 
by music-lofts; behind which lay two separate unused spaces 
of the church, distinguished nevertheless by frescoes of 
Camillo Boccaccino on their vaulting. Compositions of 
putti occupied the tw'o centres, with four small tableaux 
below on one side, and the four Evangelists on the other; 
the latter, " his most remarkable works, are seated, with the 
exception of St. John, who Is standing up — forming a curved 
outline which is opposed to the arch of the ceiling, a figure 
no less celebrated for Its perspective than for its design." 
Two more frescoes of Camillo, fine large animated scenes, 
flanked the apsldal high-altar-recess at the back of the choir, 
— the Woman taken In Adultery (of Paolo Veronese ef- 
fect), and the Raising of Lazarus. The high-altar-pala was 
a glorious specimen of Glulio Campi, — a Madonna In glory, 
above four saints and the kneeling portrait-figures of Fran- 
cesco Sforza and Bianca, In memory of whose nuptials the 
Duke founded this church. In 144 1 ; ^^ their busts, also, occu- 
lt "In a chapel dedicated to him (S. Sigismondo) Francesco 



CREMONA THE CAPTIVATING 399 

pied niches over the windows here, to right and left. In the 
half-dome of the apse was a strangely composed and tinted 
Ascension, of weird effect. 

A door in the south wall near the choir admitted me to 
the adjacent deserted cloister; it was handsomely arcaded 
on four sides, with rounded stucco arches on granite columns, 
but was fast going to ruin Above this doorway I noticed 
a canvas of the Last Supper, also ruinous, but which must 
once have been an excellent work. — The southern line of side 
chapels, by the Campi, were quite similar to those opposite, 
in faded frescoing, bright canvases, and delightful stuccoed 
ceilings with little panels. The Swoon of St. Catherine, 
in the fourth chapel, — with lovely angels and effective 
chiaroscuro — and the Madonna with a bishop-saint, in the 
first, were clearly by Giulio himself, and of superior grace 
and feeling. There were also here a few canvases of later 
date. But one of the most remarkable things about this 
very remarkable and beautiful edifice, — so I reflected, as I 
drove slowly back to town — was its practical solidarity 
with its epoch: a great church decorated throughout by the 
artists of one generation, and that the supreme generation of 
the Renaissance! 

Sforza celebrated his marriage with Bianca Visconti, the heiress of 
Milan. As a monument at once of his love, his gratitude and his 
piety, he converted the little church into a most magnificent temple." 
— Mrs. Jameson; "Legends of the Monastic Orders." 



CHAPTER XII 

MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 

" Not far his course [the Mincio] hath run, when a wide flat 
It finds, which overstretching as a marsh 
It covers, pestilent in summer oft. 
Hence journeying, the savage maiden saw 
Midst of the fen a territory waste 
And naked of inhabitants. To shun 
All human converse, here she with her slaves, 
Plying her arts, remained. — On those dead bones 
They reared themselves a city, for her sake 
Calling it Mantua, who first chose the spot." 

Dante's "Inferno" Canto XX; Gary's Trans. 

In the centre of that immense plain, with its countless leagues 
of vineyards, cultivated fields, mulberry groves and lines of 
poplars, there comes a break in its monotony, a change to 
something neither of land nor sea, but half partaking of the 
nature of each, — a fen-land, of sedge-grown marsh and mias- 
matic meadow, far stretching, graced in its very centre by 
two sleeping, silvery lakes. In their pale, unruffled surfaces 
lie mirrored, not only the fleecy clouds of a turquoise sky, 
and the rushes and willows along their curving banks, but the 
dark towers and extended battlements of an ancient, moss- 
grown, fortress-city, crowded upon a peninsula that juts 
northward like an island between the encircling, protecting 
waters. It is the city of Virgil, of Isabella d'Este, and Giulio 
Romano, of the warrior-princes of Gonzaga — soldiers, 
statesmen, Dukes, and Imperial Vicars-General, — and of 
that stupendous, incredible palace-fortress which they made 
the greatest and the richest in the world. 

400 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 401 

Those are Its mighty keeps and bastions and long crenel- 
ated walls, which lie reflected grimly in the eastern lake, 
stretching far along Its border, and farther Inland, to the 
heart of the town : that vast congeries of castles, palaces, tow- 
ers and chapels, which forms a city In Itself, and which 
formed once a treasure-house of artistic riches such as Italy 
has never since beheld. Wall by wall, and treasure by treas- 
ure they built it up, those stern, formidable Gonzaga Mar- 
quises and Dukes, who exercised their genius for war as 
condottierij and captains-general for Italy at large; main- 
taining this their own state in peace and plenty, and bring- 
ing back , J It during hundreds of years the riches which they 
had gathered from less favoured realms; using those riches 
for ever more additions to this unparalleled fortress, and 
calling for its decoration generation after generation of the 
Immortal artists of the Renaissance. Here Pisanello, Al- 
bertl, Mantegna, Glulio Romano, and Primaticcio succes- 
sively poured forth all the beauties In their souls, to the glory 
of the Gonzaghi and their house. 

And here. In the dark, castellated pile upon the eastern 
water's very edge, the mediaeval donjon of the palace-city, 
dwelt the famous Isabella d'Este, wife of Marchese Fran- 
cesco III, — " the archetypal collector of the Renaissance," the 
one with whom Mantua is perhaps more identified than any 
other save Virgil himself; here she came as a bride, to gaze 
delighted over the far stretches of the blue lake below, and 
upon the stately frescoes with which Mantegna had beautified 
the bridal chamber; here she began that unequalled collec- 
tion of the treasures of the Renaissance, and that exquisite 
ornamentation of her private suites of rooms, which filled 
Italy with admiring wonder; here she gathered about her 
that splendid circle of artists, connoisseurs, and men of let- 
ters and wit, which made the Reggia of Mantua second only 



402 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

to Urbino as " the ideal court of the Renaissance." Casti- 
glione ^ himself was born close by here, at Casatico, and dwelt 
in the ancient palace of his family near the Piazza Sordello; 
and when Guidobaldo Montefeltri and his illustrious spouse, 
Elisabetta Gonzaga — Isabella's sister and beloved friend — 
were driven forth from Urbino in 1497 by the machinations 
of the Borgias, it was to Mantua that they naturally turned 
their steps, to live here in congenial exile until the restoration 
of I503' To Isabella's side the widowed Elisabetta returned 
finally, in 1508; and it was but 8 years later that Guido- 
baldo's nephew and successor, Duke Francesco Maria della 
Rovere, driven forth in his turn by Papal wiles, repeated 
that gentle exile to Mantua, bringing back for a time to 
Isabella's bosom her daughter, and his wife^ Leonora. Cas- 
tlglione and other distinguished friends accompanied them. 
Such were some of the noble members of that historic circle. 
Ah, the memories, — the countless, brilliant, eventful mem- 
ories, clustering thickly about those lichen-grown, battle- 
mented walls, — amidst whose desolate solitudes every echoing 
sad step seems to call forth gay sounds and visions of that 
momentous era! Gone is every portable treasure of that 
marvellous collection, — stolen by the imperialists in the 
awful sack of 1630, or sold or given away by the extravagant 
later princes of the line; but still left to us, thank heaven, 
are the things they could not steal nor sell, — the buildings 
of Alberti, the frescoes of Mantegna, the Palazzo Te of 

1 Baldassare Castiglione, author of the " Cortegiano," was born 
Nov. 6, 1478, in the old castle of Casatico, 12 miles southwest of 
Mantua, which was one of the hereditary seats of his distinguished 
family; for its origin, see Castiglione d'Olona. He spent the earlier 
and later years of his brilliant life at the palace on the Via Pradello 
which had been given to his grandfather by Marchese Lodovico III. 
(Both edifices are now destroyed.) — The intervening years were 
passed by him at the Court of Urbino. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 403 

Glulio Romano, — unique marvel of its time — and the won- 
drous ceiling-decorations of the palace-city, Including the 
" Grotta " and the " Paradiso " suites of Isabella. 

These shallow, rush-bordered lakes of Mantua are, after 
all, but widenings of the Mincio River, which brings the 
waters of the Lake of Garda in slow meanderings to the Po, 
constituting thus one of the plain's principal lines of defence. 
Issuing from the lake's southeastern corner, by the island of 
Peschlera, it flows sinuously southward until, reaching the 
fen-land at the latter's southwestern angle, it spreads itself 
semlcircularly northward and eastward in the shape of a vast 
horseshoe; from whose far, southeastern end the river re- 
continues, to fall Into the Po a dozen miles beyond. From 
the northwestern extremity of the peninsular city there ex- 
tends a mediaeval bridge across the mile of water, constructed 
as long ago as 11 83; which is as much a dam as a bridge, 
confining the upper waters at a higher level, whence they 
escape to the lower through twelve ancient mills, — placed 
equidistant, and adorned each with a statue of an Apostle, — 
whose wheels have been turned for seven centuries by the 
falling current. Hence the name of Ponte del Molino. 
Another ancient bridge crosses midway the eastern waters, 
leading from the very foot of that grim, castellated donjon 
Of the palace-fortress, in which Isabella dwelt as a bride, — 
the Ponte S. Glorgic, From these two traverses result the 
three names, of Lake Superlore — to the west, — Lago di 
Mezzo — on the north side, — and Lago Inferiore, upon the 
east. 

On the south side of the city Its isolation was completed, 
in former days, by the digging of a deep moat across the 
neck of the peninsula, from one lake to the other, accom- 
panied by the usual protecting walls. It was thus veritably 
an island-fortress, impregnable to everything but famine. 



404 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

For this reason It was later constituted by the Austrians an 
important member of that famous " Quadrilateral," which 
was the backbone of their power in Lombardy; of it the 
Mincio was their western line of defence, guarded by the 
two island-fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera at its extrem- 
ities. Within it they retreated, whenever threatened by vic- 
torious or superior forces; and over it many a momentous 
battle has been fought in the past two centuries, — the most 
important struggles centering in the possession of Mantua. 

The history of the marsh-city, throughout its countless 
ages of miasmatic exhalations, mosquito-plagues and malarial 
fevers, — all of which the people endured cheerfully for the 
sake of Its impregnability to man, — has been as exceptional 
as its location. The savage maiden to whom Dante refers 
as its mythical founder, was Manto, the daughter of Tireslas 
of Thebes (also called Beanoi), from whom she received her 
knowledge of magic; the destruction of Thebes caused her 
to flee to Italy, and seek a secure refuge for the practice of 
her black art in the swamps of the Mincio. According to 
Virgil, however, she was not a virgin-witch, but was married 
to the river-god of Tiber, by whom she had a son called 
Ocnus ; and he it was who founded Mantua, naming it after 
his mother. Arlosto places these words in her mouth: 

"I am thy kin; for, of the lineage clear, 
Derived of haughty Cadmus' seed are we. 
I am the fairy Manto, that whilere 
Laid the first stone of this rude villagery." 2 

In truth, the origin of Mantua Is so remote as to be lost 
In the mists of prehistoric times; Its secure situation made it 
one of the first settled towns in Lombardy. It was one of 
the chief cities of the Etruscans, when they first came down 

8 "Orlando Furioso," Canto XLIII; Rose's Trans. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 405 

from the north, and dwelt in this part of the plain ; and when, 
pushed by the advancing Celts, that nation crossed the Apen- 
nines, their people of Mantua refused to go, deeming them- 
selves safe enough in their marsh-fortress ; the proof of which 
is that up to the age of Livy, and considerably later, they 
still spoke the Etruscan dialect. 

At the period of the Roman conquest of the Celts, Mantua 
was about their last stronghold to yield, not bowing under 
the Latin yoke until 197 B. C, at the end of the final strug- 
ble. In 70 B. C, when Virgil was born near-by, the city 
had long become thoroughly Latinised. His actual birth- 
place was a little village called Andes, — now generally iden- 
tified with Pietole, 3 miles to the southeast upon the Mincio, 
— where his father was a small but intelligent farmer. 
" His boyhood was spent on the banks of the winding Mincio, 
in a quiet round of rural pursuits. — Alive to the importance 
of education, Virgil's parents set aside a portion of their 
slender means to provide for his instruction." ^ He went to 
school at Cremona first, then at Rome; and on returning to 
Mantua, " amid the natural attractions that surrounded him, 
he conceived the idea of rivalling Theocritus in bucolic 
poetry, and in 42 B. C. began his Eclogues.'* The love of 
his native city — as he regarded Mantua — increased upon 
him with age; and in tw'o of his immortal lines he has cele- 
brated her glory to all posterity: 

" Mantua, Musarum domus, atque ad sidera cantu 
Evecta Aeonio, et Smyrnaeis aemula plectris." * 

With the coming of the civil wars, and the defeat of 
Brutus and Cassius, Octavius and Antony seized for their 

^ Quackenbos' " Ancient Literature." 

*" Mantua, home of the Muses, raised to the stars in Aeonlan 
song and rival of the music of Smyrna." 



4o6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

soldiers, not only the lands of Cremona, as already narrated, 
but some of Mantua's; Including the farm Inherited by Virgil 
from his father. By personal Intercession with Octavlus the 
poet procured Its restoration. But, " shortly after, Virgil 
was ejected again, and this time narrowly escaped with his 
life by swimming the MIncIo (owing to the violence of the 
soldier who took possession). Nor does he appear to have 
been ever reinstated. Octavlus, however, loaded him with 
favours; and a house In Rome near the palace of his friend 
Maecenas, with a lovely villa In the suburbs-^ Naples, — 
reconciled him to the loss of his boyhood's home." ^ " Two 
of the Eclogues, the first and the ninth, are written In con- 
nection with these events. They give expression to the sense 
of disorder. Insecurity and distress, which — accompanied 
these forced divisions and alienations of land." ^ — As all the 
world knows, the poet eventually died, and was buried, at 
his Neapolitan villa. 

Under the Roman Empire, and Its decline and fall, Man- 
tua remained secure until the conquest of the Lombards, 
when It was taken and sacked by Alboin, whose rude soldiery 
destroyed in a day the accumulated riches and Intellectual 
treasures of 800 years. Upon the downfall of the Lombards 
Charlemagne seized the city, and is said to have been so 
struck with Its Inaccessible position that he ordered its elab- 
orate fortification. Toward the close of the loth century the 
Emperor Otho II bestowed it upon Tebalao, Count of Ca- 
nossa, of that famous family which " accumulated fiefs that 
stretched from Mantua across the plain of Lombardy, over 
the Apennines to Lucca, and southward to Spoleto." '^ 
These descended to Tebaldo's granddaughter, the celebrated 

^ Quackenbos' "j\ncient Literature." 

« Sellar's " Poets of the Augustan Age." 

7 Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 407 

Countess Matilda of Tuscany, who founded by her grant 
the states of the Church.^ Mantua, however, asserted 
her independence after Matilda's death, becoming a Lom- 
bard republic, governed by its elected consuls. Owing 
to its secure position it steadily flourished and increased in 
size and power, during the whole of the 12th century; for 
the same reason of location it had few noble families, so that 
the popolo grasso retained control, with their accustomed 
leaning to the Gueliic cause. 

In 1 167, by her consuls, Mantua joined the first League 
of Lombardy, and fought bravely against Frederick Bar- 
barossa. In 1183 she divided her lakes by the dam of Ponte 
del Molino, with its 12 mills. In 1226 she joined in renew- 
ing the League against Frederick II; but 11 years later, 
upon the approach and the seizure of the city by that emperor, 
she was for the first time turned over to Ghibelline control, 
under the wealthy families who had embraced that faction. 
After Frederick's departure, however, she soon again turned 
Guelf, joining in the Guelfic combinations against Ezzelino 
da Romano, from 1247 until his overthrow in 1259. Find- 
ing it necessary during this warfare to have a noble captain 
of her forces, she chose the Guelfic Count of S. Bonifazio, 
who was therefore for some time the practical ruler of the 
city. Though she regained self-mastery after his death, Man- 
tua was soon, in 1274, overcome by Mastino della Scala of 
Verona, who sent his brother Alberto to act as the town's 
actual ruler; but upon Mastino's assassination, in 1277, and 
Alberto's consequent return to Verona to take up the reins 
of government, Mantua rose and threw off the Scala yoke, 
appointing Pinamonte Buonacolsi, the head of the local fam- 
ily of that name, to be her Capitano. 

^ See also beginning of next chapter, for further account of 
Matilda. 



4o8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The Buonacolsi were not long in transforming the power 
thus acquired into a genuine despotism; and so perished the 
liberties of the people. Guido Buonacolsi, surnamed Bot- 
tigella, in 1302 commenced the building of that great palace 
on the Piazza Sordello, which proved to be only the embryo 
and nucleus of the subsequent Reggia of the Gonzaghi. 
Rinaldo, who followed him, eagerly supported Emperor 
Henry VII upon the latter's visit to Lombardy in 13 10, 
receiving in reward his appointment as Mantua's first Im- 
perial Vicar; which was confirmed by Louis of Bavaria in 
1327. In spite of this legalisation of the Buonacolsi's au- 
thority, as soon as Louis' back was turned in the following 
year, by his descent into Tuscany, they lost everything by 
that one supreme stroke of fate, or craft, which determined 
the future and the glory of Mantua, — which influenced all 
Lombard history for 400 years, and without which the 
marsh-city would probably be a town insignificant and un- 
noticed. 

Prominent among the so-called noble families of the city 
was that of Gonzaga, which had already been wealthy for 
several generations, and was distinguished, then and for cen- 
turies afterward, by the keen, resolute, courageous quality 
of its manhood ; " born fighters " were always the sons of the 
Gonzaghi, and exceptionally fertile was the stock. Luigi 
Gonzaga, at this time head of the family, had well served 
his master, Passerino Buonacolsi, and stood high in the des- 
pot's favour. The tyrant himself found not such favour 
with the people, both on account of his cruelties and exactions, 
and because the people were still mainly Guelf in sentiment. 
Yet he would doubtless have kept his throne, had he not 
mortally affronted the Gonzaghi by insulting one of their 
wives. They were not men to be deterred by any sort of 
fear or danger from seeking to avenge such a dishonour. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 409 

Secretly they incited the populace to a rebellion, which broke 
out in a furious tumult on Aug. 14, 1328. The Gonzaghi 
and their adherents repaired to the palace as if to assist Pas- 
serino in putting down the uprising, and were unsuspectingly 
admitted. Surrounding the despot, to keep at a distance the 
faithful nobles and his German guards, Luigi Gonzaga him- 
self suddenly drew his dagger and stabbed the libertine to 
the heart. Aided by the maddened people, he had then 
little difficulty in slaying or driving from the city the rest of 
the Buonacolsi and their few steadfast friends. 

The Mantuans, wild with joy, at once unanimously chose 
Luigi Gonzaga to be their new ruler. He proceeded to 
make his peace with Emperor Louis, and succeeded in so do- 
ing; for when Louis returned to Lombardy in the following 
year, he confirmed the Gonzaga's usurpation, appointing him 
to be his Imperial Vicar in the place of the dead Buonacolsi. 
Luigi ruled wisely, making the prosperity of the state his 
objective, indulging in no vicious practices, and training his 
descendants to be clean, manly, well-educated men. This 
example was followed by Guido, his son, and all succeeding 
Gonzaghi ; so that the people were both proud of, and devoted 
to, their considerate masters, — an extraordinary thing in 
Italy of the Renaissance. Guido showed the family desire 
for culture by his friendship for Petrarch, of whom he made 
much; and exhibited their remarkable ability as soldiers 
by his successful leadership of the Mantuan forces in the 
wars which now occurred with the Visconti. He kept the 
warfare away from his own territory, so that the latter 
steadily flourished; and Mantua increased to a prosperous 
city of some 30,000 inhabitants, ruling the plain from Cre- 
mona and the Po to Verona and the Euganean Hills. 

His successors followed this wise precedent, doing their 
fighting away from home and bringing the fruits back to it; 



4IO LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

while at the same time they bettered themselves steadily in 
learning and statecraft. The result was to make Mantua 
so powerful in the time of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, that he, 
in his scheming to enslave all Italy, did not dare attack the 
city openly; but approached her secretly, by trying to destroy 
the devotion of the Mantuans to their rulers. The fourth 
Francesco Gonzaga was then head of the state. Against 
him, in 1389, " Gian Galeazzo devised a diabolical plot. By 
forged letters and subtly contrived incidents he caused Fran- 
cesco to suspect his wife of infidelity with his secretary. In 
a fit of jealous rage Francesco ordered the execution of his 
wife — together with the secretary. Then he discovered the 
Visconti's hand. But it was too late." ^ Nevertheless, al- 
though Francesco was by these means somewhat discredited 
with his people, they neither then nor at any other time 
plotted to rid themselves of the Gonzaga leadership; their 
devotion lay too deep for that. 

In 1393 this same Francesco began the erection of that 
grim, battlemented donjon-castle on the shore of the eastern 
lake, called now simply " II Castellof' — already mentioned 
as Isabella's first residence; the author of its gothic design 
being that Bartolino da Novara who constructed, upon sim- 
ilar lines, the mighty " Castello Rosso " of the Estensi at 
Ferrara. Francesco also rebuilt the ancient bridge of S. 
Giorgio, leading eastward from the Castello's foot, and re- 
paired the grand old Duomo on Piazza Sordello; whose 
gothic lines were subsequently altered by Giulio Romano to 
its present Renaissance type. In 1397 Gian Galeazzo Vis- 
conti, his machinations having failed in their desired effect, 
suddenly attacked Mantua without warning, ravaging her 
territory with fire and sword before the Gonzaghi could 
take the field ; when they did so, the Milanese were so harshly 

» Symonds' " Age of the Despots." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 411 

treated that the Visconti soon gave in and signed a truce. 
His death in 1402 put an end to that trouble. 

In 1406 the Castello was completed; and the following 
year Francesco died, being succeeded by his son Gianfran- 
cesco II, who " was raised to the dignity of Marquis when 
the Emperor Sigismund visited Mantua in 1433. He 
strengthened the fortifications of the city, drained the marshes 
(to some extent) and encouraged agriculture, and the manu- 
facture of cloth, — which remained the staple industry of 
Mantua until the sack of 1630. Like most of the Gonzaga 
princes, he served the rival states of Venice and Lombardy 
alternately." ^* The successive Gonzaghi made a specialty, 
a profound study, of the practices and art of war, attaining 
such skill in the leadership of armies that when any north- 
Italian state engaged in a new struggle, it called upon tlie 
Marquis of Mantua to act as generalissimo , almost as a mat- 
ter of course. High pay and abundant plunder were the 
Gonzaga rewards, but still more, the safety of their own 
state, which few were bold enough to attack. Hallam im- 
putes the long security of Mantuan territory to the fact that 
her rulers never exerted themselves to extend its bound- 
aries ; ^^ but the causes were also the devotion of its people, 
the martial renown of its princes, and their habit of indulg- 
ing their warlike propensities away from home. 

From 1426 onwards Gianfrancesco II was engaged, on 
behalf of his own state, Venice and their allies, in combat- 
ing and defeating the ambitious designs of Filippo Maria 
Visconti ; but he found plenty of time for other pursuits also, 
being the most cultured Gonzaga who had yet ruled. In 
1425 he brought to Mantua, for the education of his chil- 
dren, that renowned and truly great scholar of the Renais- 

10 Julia Cartwright's "Isabella d'Este." 
11 Hallam's " Middle Ages," Vol. I. 



412 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

sance, Vittorino da Feltre; an act by which "the court of 
Mantua took rank among the high schools of humanism In 
Italy," ^^ and which had the most Important results, in the 
exceeding culture of the next Gonzaga generation. " The 
system supervised by Vittorino included not only the ac- 
quisition of scholarship, but also training in manly sports 
and the cultivation of the moral character. Many of the 
noblest Italians were his pupils. Ghiberto da Corregglo, 
Battlsta Pallavicini, Taddeo Manfredi of Faenza, Gabbri- 
ello da Cremona, Francesco da Castiglione, NIccolo Per- 
rotti, together with (Federlgo) the Count of Montefeltro, 
lived In Vlttorino's house, associating with the poorer stu- 
dents whom the benevolent philosopher Instructed for the 
love of learning." In such a brilliant school Federlgo de' 
Montefeltri and Lodovico Gonzaga, the next marquis, ac- 
quired that profound love of learning and the arts, that 
strength of character and body, which distinguished them 
through life. At lo years of age, it is said, they already 
wrote Greek with fluency. 

Gianfrancesco II showed the Gonzaga love for princely 
building by continuing on a huge scale the erection of their 
palace-city, and constructing churches, dykes, and other pub- 
lic edifices; for these purposes he brought the great Brunel- 
leschl of Florence twice to Mantua, and the equally distin- 
guished Leon Battlsta Albertl a number of times. On one 
of these visits Albertl designed the splendid church of S. 
Andrea; on another, that of S. Sebastlano, and the beautiful 
chapel of the Incoronata In the Duomo. In 1444 Lodovico 
II succeeded to the marqulsate which SIglsmund had granted 
his father (for 12,000 gold florins) and continued In his 
father's brilliant way, with increased success; giving Mantua 
33 years of prosperity and fair renown. Under him the 

12 J. A. Symonds' " Renaissance in Italy." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 413 

Palazzo Belvidere was added to the palace-city, the enor- 
mous hospital was erected, and various royal villas were 
built here and there in the country, by the Tuscan architect 
Luca Francelli, to meet the new fashion of princely mlleg- 
giatura. Lodovico brought Donatello to Mantua, who stayed 
nearly two years, executing various small pieces for the Gon- 
zaghi, now scattered or lost, and beginning a fine Area of S. 
Anselmo in the Cathedral. In 1459 Lodovico accomplished 
a still more important stroke, in securing Andrea Mantegna, 
fresh from his success at the Eremetani chapel in Padua; 
and so much was made of the great painter, so fully were all 
his desires met, that he lived at Mantua until he died, in 
1506. 

Mantegna's work, unfortunately, was nearly always done 
upon canvas ; but several years after his arrival he undertook 
that frescoing of the Camera degli Sposi, or bridal-chamber 
of Lodovico, in the Castello, which delighted Isabella's eyes 
when she came to it in 1490, and which still remains to 
delight the world at large. In it are depicted, with true 
Mantegnesque accuracy and realism, Lodovico and his good 
German spouse, Barbara, his grown sons Federigo, Rodolfo 
and Gianfrancesco, his youthful son Lodovico, and the three 
daughters. In 1478, while one of the periodical visitations 
of plague was ravaging Mantua, Lodovico died at his villa 
of Goito, where he had sought refuge, and was succeeded 
by his eldest son, Federigo, above mentioned ; whom we hear 
little of, except for his vain endeavour as a youth to escape 
from marrying Margherita of Bavaria,^*^ and who survived 
his father only 6 years. In 1484, then, the elder son of 

1^ Recent researches amongst the Gonzaga archives seem to es- 
tablish the falsity of this ancient story of Federigo's fleeing to Naples 
from a girl he had never seen, his misery there from penury and 
sickness, his discovery by agents, and return home. 



414 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Federigo and Margherlta, the young Gianfrancesco III, 
came to the throne, — known usually as Marchese Francesco ; 
one of the most talented and upright men of his line, and 
one of the most remarkable princes of the high-Renaissance. 
He acceded as a youth, and did not marry until 1490; when 
he performed the most momentous act of his illustrious reign 
by bringing to the grim Castello as a bride, the fascinating, 
peerless Isabella d'Este. 

She was a daughter of Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara, and 
Eleonora of Aragon, and a sister of Alfonso, the next duke, 
Ippolito, the cardinal, and the younger Beatrice, who about 
the same time married Lodovico Sforza. In Isabella's ex- 
traordinary union of grace, beauty, and accomplishments of 
every nature, with a mind renowned for its learning, its wit, 
its taste and keen intelligence, animated by a soul of the 
highest and strongest character, her personality not only took 
immediate possession of the Mantua of her day, but ranged 
far and wide throughout Italy, as a power and an inspiration 
in the world of politics, science, art and letters. But who in 
the space of a few pages can do justice to such a paragon! 
One can only say that she was the personification of the 
female virtues, wisdom, and abilities of her time, — the Ideal 
Woman of the Renaissance. 

" During 40 years Isabella d'Este played an important 
part in the history of her times, and made the little court of 
Mantua famous in the eyes of the 'vhole civilised world. 
Her close relationship with the reigning families of Milan 
and Naples, Ferrara and Urbino, and her constant intercourse 
with popes and monarchs, made her position one of peculiar 
Importance. And poets and painters alike gave her of their 
best. Castiglione, Niccolo da Correggio, Bembo and Bib- 
biena were among her constant correspondents. Aldo printed 
Virgils and Petrarchs for her use. Lorenzo da Pavia made 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 415 

her musical instruments of unrivalled beauty and sweet- 
ness." ^* While, in the sphere of art, she ransacked Italy 
for her collections, patronised the greatest painters, kept a 
score of them ever dancing attendance, in person or by corre- 
spondence, and decorated her palace to the envy of Europe, 
with works of every character, executed according to her own 
directions. 

Francesco *' provided for her residence only a rugged for- 
tress, — and her f^rst care was to make in the Castello a 
small and elegant retreat, to be devoted to meditation, work,, 
and intellectual pursuits." ^^ This she effected with a little 
room adjacent to the Camera degli Sposi, which was ex- 
quisitely decorated under her orders, and received gradually 
the nucleus of her collection of art-treasures; this was the 
'' studtolo, which is so often mentioned in Isabella's letters, — 
the peaceful retreat where she and Elisabetta Gonzaga spent 
their happiest hours, surrounded by the books and pictures, 
the cameos and musical instruments, that they loved." ^^^ In 
these chambers, overlooking the long, blue-green reach of the 
marshy lake, Isabella spent a large part of her married life, 
until her noble husband died, in 15 19. Then she removed 
to a suite of 16 rooms near the western front of the Reg- 
gia, and devoted herself to the decoration of her famous 
'' Grotta'^ on the ground-floor: a combination of chambers 
and cor tile, in which she placed her countless dazzling treas- 
ures to great advantage, — as many a connoisseur of the period 
has testified, with due expressions of amazement. This place 
was so kept until long after her death; but upon her son 
Federigo's marriage, she again moved her dwelling-apart- 

1* Julia Cartwrlght's "Isabella d'Este." 

IS "Wall Decorations of the 15th and i6th Centuries" ; Charles 
Yriarte on the " Paradise " of Isabella d'Este. 
15a Julia Cartwright's "Isabella d'Este." 



4i6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ments, to an inner, lofty suite, in the Palazzo Belvidere, — 
one of the newer, connecting buildings between the Corte 
Vecchto and the Castello (now united into one vast en- 
closure) where, again overlooking her beloved lake, she con- 
structed her final and most lovely retreat of the " Paradiso " : 
" a private sanctuary, in which she might give herself more 
liberty than ever for meditation, writing, singing, and poetry, 
when inclined to do so, and thus escape into a small and 
select circle from the glare of the court. — These three small 
. rooms, exquisitely elegant, real shrines streaming with gold, 
delicately chiselled, furnished for and by her, in which every 
detail was to reflect her tastes and her thought, — became 
the object of her predilection; and it is amidst such surround- 
ings, the real " paradise " of Isabella d'Este, that historians 
must place her portrait." '^^^ 

" Isabella herself was Estense, but she was a born con- 
naisseuse as well. — She had Mantegna at her hand to select 
antiques for her — she set on her cardinal-brother to watch 
the young Michelangelo's career in Rome, and surprise, if 
possible, the secret of the buried Cupid; she sat in the jewel- 
casket-like rooms of her Paradiso, and prepared long-winded 
instructions framed by attendant humanists for the worri- 
ment of the painters who composed her allegories; she care- 
fully measured with her own hands the wall-panels of her 
Grotta, and, trusting to no figures, sent ribbons of the exact 
length to Perugino, accompanying the aforesaid instructions. 
— She had Leonardo for her visitor, and Titian for her por- 
trait painter, and, to her honour as a connaisseuse, she recog- 
nised the talent of a Correggio when a Bembo, with all his 
assumption of art-knowledge, passed him by unheeding. She 
sent to Aldus for new editions, read the first printed De- 
cameron, and patronised Ariosto and Castiglione; did ever 

15b Julia Cartwright's " Isabella d'Este." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 417 

a ducal blue-stocking have so royal a tlme?"^^ "The 
works of Mantegna and Costa, of Giovanni Bellini and 
Michelangiolo, of Perugino and Correggio, adorned her 
rooms. Giovanni Santi, Mantegna, Francia and Costa all 
in turn painted portraits of her." ^^ 

Her family life was exceptionally happy; for her husband, 
despite a few infidelities, deemed of trifling importance in a 
prince of that epoch, was a man of sterling worth. " The 
house of Gonzaga " — as Burckhardt said — " and that of 
Montefeltro at Urbino, were among the best ordered and 
richest In men of ability, during the second half of the 15 th 
century. The Gonzaghl were a tolerably harmonious fam- 
ily; for a long period no murder had been known among 
them, and their dead could be shown to the world without 
fear. The Marquis Francesco and his wife — in spite of 
some few irregularities, were a united and respected couple, 
and brought up their sons to be successful and remarkable 
men at a time when their small but most important state was 
exposed to incessant danger." Francesco adopted " a policy 
of exceptional honesty, — he felt and acted as an Italian pa- 
triot, and imparted the same spirit to his wife. — Her own 
letters show her to us as a woman of unshaken firmness, full 
of kindliness and humorous observation. Bembo, Bandello, 
Ariosto and Bernardo Tasso sent their works to this court. — 
A more polished and charming circle was not to be seen in 
Italy." i« 

As the times through which they passed were exceptionally 
disturbed and dangerous, owing to the irruptions and con- 
quests of Charles VIII and Louis XII of France, so Fran- 
cesco's career as a soldier was more stormy and distinguished 

16 Blashfield's "Italian Cities." 

1^ Julia Cartwright's "Isabella d'Este." 

i^Burckhardt's "Renaissance in Italy." 



4i8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

than his predecessors'. In 1494-5 he commanded the armies 
of the Italian league raised against Charles VIII after his sub- 
jugation of Naples, dealing him the heavy blow of the battle 
of Fornovo, on July 6, 1495, by which his retreat to France 
was sought to be interrupted. Charles fought his way 
through, but at such a terrible loss that he entered Italy no 
more. The Italian losses were still larger, over 3,500 dead 
remaining on the field, and amongst them five princes of the 
Gonzaga family, whose heroism upon that day earned them 
immortal glory. In 1496-7 Francesco commanded the Ve- 
netian forces. In 1498 he saved his state from the hungry, 
ferocious Caesar Borgia, who was engaged in appropriating 
Romagna and the Marches, by entering into an intimate 
friendship with the villain ; forty of whose letters to Fran- 
cesco and Isabella are still to be seen at Mantua. 

Upon Louis the Twelfth's conquest of Milan, the Marquis 
again saved himself, by an alliance with that king, taking 
a frequent command in the French forces from 1499 to 1507 ; 
in the latter year he aided in their reduction of Genoa, and 
also led a papal army successfully against Bologna. The 
year 1506 was marked at Mantua by the death of Mantegna, 
who was succeeded as court-painter by Lorenzo Costa of 
Bologna. In 1508 Francesco joined the League of Cambrai 
against Venice, whose relentless advance on terra firma was 
threatening his domains; and, after assisting to administer 
that crushing defeat of the Republic's army at Aignadel, on 
May 14, 1509, he was himself surprised while sleeping in a 
farmhouse near Legnago, shortly after, and taken a prisoner 
to Venice. This emergency called forth all the mettle of 
Isabella, who had to guide the little state safely through the 
dangers yawning upon every side, during the several years of 
her husband's captivity; and nobly she performed the diffi- 
cult task, with infinite tact, finesse and resolution, showing 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 419 

the highest qualities of statecraft, as it was then practised. 
From her own allies the danger was greatest of all, — the 
wild French troops continually overrunning Mantuan terri- 
tory, with barbarous excesses, which threatened any day to 
seize Mantua itself. Isabella therefore joined the Pope in 
forming a new league against the conquering French, calling 
in the Spaniards to help drive them from Lombardy; Venice 
of course was a member of this alliance, and Francesco Gon- 
zaga was accordingly released. Before he reached home, 
however, the French had been driven away, and the victori- 
ous allies had met at Mantua, in August, 15 12; — "where 
a prolonged conference took place, and Isabella d'Este dis- 
played her usual tact and ability in the conduct of negotia- 
tions." As a result, her nephew Maximilian Sforza was 
seated on the throne of Milan; which he lost in 15 15, how- 
ever, upon the return of the French under Francis I. 

Francesco Gonzaga seems never to have recovered entirely 
from his harsh handling by the Venetians; for his last few 
years were now passed mostly upon a sick-bed, requiring 
Isabella again to manage the state. In 15 19 he died peace- 
fully, leaving the marquisate to his son Federigo II, who 
was still a lad. Of him it is said that " without ever attain- 
ing to his mother's, or his brother Ercole's, love of learning, 
he was decidedly more cultured than his father or Gonzaga 
uncles;" he had certainly inherited the family love of art, 
and princely building, and the family talents for warfare. 
In the same year Charles V became Emperor, and an agree- 
ment was at once made with him by the Pope and the 
Gonzaghi, to drive out the French again and seat Francesco 
Sforza, Isabella's other nephew, on the Milanese throne. 
Federigo assisted in doing this, in 1521, escorting his cousin 
to the latter's dominions with much gallantry, and shortly 
afterward defending Pavia with intrepid courage against 



420 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the assaults of Marshal Lautrec; for which he was given a 
genuine triumph on his return home. In 1524 he aided in 
the defeat and capture of Francis I at Pavia; and brought 
to Mantua Giulio Romano to be his court-painter, — who 
very soon commenced the building of the celebrated Palazzo 
del Te just south of the city. This, the principal monu- 
ment of Federigo's reign, was first begun by him as a small 
lodge in his park, and finally enlarged to a splendid palace 
for the pleasures of his mistress, Isabella Boschetti ; the fame 
of the beauties wrought there by Giulio's fertile brush and 
Primaticcio's stucco modelling, soon spread far and wide ; and 
it has remained not only the temple of their genius, but the 
ideal example of a great Renaissance pleasure-villa. 

In 1525 Isabella went to Rome, to secure a cardinal's hat 
for her son Ercole, and, though ultimately successful, was de- 
tained there two years, until after the terrible sack of 1527 
by the army of the Constable Bourbon. The war in Lom- 
bardy between the French and Imperialists continued to rage 
fiercely; Mantua still escaped, but her territories were deso- 
lated by the passing armies; and to complete the ruin came 
the plague of 1528, which practically depopulated the coun- 
try, and carried off nearly one-half of the people of the city 
(recently increased to 40,000). Isabella laboured like a 
heroine in the midst of it, pledging all her best jewels to 
alleviate the distress. Through everything Federigo clung 
to the Emperor's party, in spite of the constant danger from 
the French; and he received his reward, on March 25, 1530, 
when Charles V entered Mantua at the head of a brilliant 
train, Tresh from his coronation at Bologna the day before. 
He stayed four weeks, enjoying the Gonzaga palaces, art 
treasures and hunting-parties ; and on April 8th, after signing 
and sealing an Imperial decree creating the Duchy of Man- 
tua, himself proclaimed to the people, from the steps of the 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 421 

Duomo, the advancement of their lord Federigo to be the 
first Duke of the realm. 

Toward the end of that same year the Duke shook himself 
free from the ten years' thraldom in which he had been 
held by the imperious Isabella BoschettI, — to his mother's 
long grief, — and wedded the Princess Margherita Paleologa 
of Monferrato; erecting for the bride still another wing to 
the vast Gonzaga palace, — the so-called Palazzina^ adjacent 
to the Castello Vecchio on the east. Under Messer Glulio's 
directions the Palazzo S. Sebastiano, or southern wing, was 
being made the most magnificent part of the Reggia, A 
special chamber was designed for Mantegna's Triumph of 
Csesar, another for Guilio's own famous Cycle of the 
Trojan War, another for Titian's great Series of the 
Twelve Caesars, and so forth; while one splendid hall was 
devoted entirely to ancient marble sculptures, and the ceilings 
throughout were made grandiose beyond anything thereto- 
fore known. Later on Giulio constructed, again adjacent 
upon the south here, at the lake's edge, the celebrated Cav- 
allerizza, or tourney-yard, surrounded by Imposing galleries 
and arcades. 

Federigo's marriage proved a happy one, and his bride a 
gentle girl who loved and admired Isabella. In 1536, 
through the failure of the direct line of the Paleologhl, and 
thanks to his favour with the Emperor, who decided the 
dispute In his behalf, Federigo succeeded to the wide domains 
and marquisate of Monferrato ; which remained In his family 
unto the end. In 1574 it was erected Into a duchy, for 
Guglielmo Gonzaga, son of Federigo; and in 1708 it was 
annexed to Piedmont. 

Oti Feb. 13, 1539, the great Marchesa Isabella passed 
away, amidst the tears of the whole city; and according to 
her wish, was buried with no pomp, In the church of S. 



422 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Francesco, beside her husband, amid the other princes and 
princesses of the long line. In their sepulchral chapel Fed- 
erigo had a splendid tomb erected for her; but before it was 
completed, he too had died, on June 28, 1540, and was laid 
beside her. Alas, that we cannot visit their resting-places ! — 
''When, in 1797, the French took Mantua after a long 
siege, the church, which contained more than 300 monuments 
of the Gonzagas and other noble families, was pillaged — 
the tombs were broken in pieces, and the ashes which they 
contained scattered to the winds. Today this stately shrine, 
so rich in historic memories and treasures of art, has been 
converted into a barrack-school." ^^ — Federigo was first suc- 
ceeded by his son Francesco, a precocious youth, who is said 
to have known Latin at 5 years of age, — and who reigned 
but nine years; then by his second son, Guglielmo, who 
lived to sway the joint dukedoms for forty years, with cele- 
brated magnificence. — Of Isabella's remaining sons, one. 
Cardinal Ercole, governed Monferrato for the family until 
his death; and the other, Ferrante, founded the line of Gon- 
zaga princes of Guastalla, who reigned there as dukes until 
they became extinct, in 1746. 

Guglielmo's long reign was the period of Mantua's greatest 
prosperity, splendour and renown. Amid the vast treasures 
of the Reggia and Palazzo Te, and at his numerous royal 
villas, he led a life of luxury and magnificence, entertaining 
in kingly style the many potentates and illustrious men who 
came attracted by the fame of the Gonzaga Golconda. There 
was no warfare to disturb his ease, for Lombardy lay pros- 
trate under the Spanish tyranny. After Giulio's death in 
1546 the arts had begun their degeneration; but the industries 
of the people prospered as never before. The excellence and 
beauties of their cloaks and garments had long brought to 

19 Julia Cartwright's "Isabella d'Este." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 423 

« 

them the trade of the wealthy classes throughout north 
Italy and the neighbouring kingdoms; and prior to 1547 the 
settlement in London of a number of these artisans had 
spread through England the celebrity of Mantuan vesture. 
Thence we derived the name of mantua for a court-gown; 
just as paduasoy came from Padua's exquisite silk goods, and 
millinery from the head-dresses first made at Milan. Leigh 
Hunt put it wittily: 

" Mantua of every age the long renown, 
That now a Virgil giv'st, and now a gown ! " 

Duke Vincenzo I (i 589-1612) continued upon such a lav- 
ish scale the magnificence of his predecessor that the Gonzaga 
resources gave way, and were rapidly dissipated. Aside from 
this he Is to be remembered only for the introduction of 
Rubens to his court, who, attracted by its innumerable art- 
treasures, lingered there from 1600 to 1608, painting for the 
Duke many portraits and other canvases now long scattered. 
Vincenzo left three sons, who succeeded each other as rulers, 
and perished, within the space of 15 years; the grand old 
stock was worn out by ease and high-living, and the elder 
line of it died with them. Through all four dukes the family 
passion for royal building had persisted, and a good part of 
their extravagance consisted In still more additions to the 
endless Reggia, with renovations and elaborations of equal 
expense. " Francesco II reigned only a few months, yet 
found time to make the great Mostra Gallery over again." 
Under Vincenzo II, the last of them, the drain had reached 
such a point that he began the selling of the masterpieces of 
art: he "lasted but a year, but made terrible inroads upon 
the treasures of the Reggia, selling to Charles I of England 
pictures by Titian, Tintoretto, Correggio, and del Sarto," ^^ 

so Blashfield's "Italian Cities." 



424 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

• 

These were the most valued pieces of the main collection, 
including Titian's Series of the Twelve Caesars. He 
" at first hesitated to sell the masterpieces which had belonged 
to Isabella d'Este, but finally gave up the most precious of 
them to the emissaries of Cardinal Richelieu," ^^ — the can- 
vases of Mantegna, Perugino, Costa, etc., that had so long 
beautified her famous Grotta. The greatest works of all, 
Mantegna's seven panels of the Triumph of Caesar, were 
likewise disposed of to Charles I, either by Vincenzo or his 
successor, Duke Carlo I; they long adorned the walls of 
Hampton Court, and now form one of the chief treasures of 
the National Gallery. 

All this was very sad, but It was fortunate ; for only three 
years later came that terrible sack of Mantua which de- 
stroyed such countless works of irreplaceable value; It was 
therefore apparently an act of Providence that first removed 
these grandest masterpieces of them all, for the future en- 
joyment of untold generations. On the cessation of the 
main line of Gonzaga, with Vincenzo's death in 1627, the 
head of the younger, Guastalla branch at once set up his 
rightful claim to the joint dukedoms, backed by Ferdinand 
II of Spain and the Duke of Savoy; but Louis XIII of 
France, inspired of course by Richelieu, supported the pre- 
tensions of the French collateral line, represented by Charles 
de Nevers,^^ a descendant of one of the earlier Gonzaghl; 
and marching with an army rapidly across the Alps in the 
depth of winter, he crushed the Duke of Savoy in one battle, 
and set Duke Carlo I upon the twin thrones of Mantua 
and Monferrato. Ferdinand II did not rest under this, and 

21 Charles Yriarte (supra). 

22 Lodovico, one of the younger sons of the Gonzaga line, had 
married Henriette de Cleves, the heiress of the dukedom of Nevers, 
and assumed the title; Carlo I was their descendant. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 425 

in the third year of Carlo's reign sent a ferocious army of 
Spaniards and Lansquenets, which besieged the city, bom- 
barded it, and took it by assault on July 18, 1630. 

The ever memorable and horrible sack of that peerless 
capital which then took place, was like a smaller edition of 
the Gothic sack of Rome. For three whole days the brutish 
soldiery ravaged the Reggia, destroying far more than they 
carried away of those inestimable treasures of painting, sculp- 
ture, and manuscript. Nothing better shows the palace- 
city's incredible extent, than the fact that despite those three 
days' incessant hunting for wealth, they never discovered 
the Paradiso of Isabella. Its contents were dispersed later 
on. The city at large was so grievously stripped and injured, 
that it never recovered. As for Carlo, however, he kept 
his throne after all; for Ferdinand, threatened by Louis 
and other enemies, relinquished his purpose after this use- 
less destruction, and recognised the line of Nevers. This 
continued to rule until 1708; when the turmoil of the 
War of the Spanish Succession frightened Carlo IV into 
running away, and ended in the annexation of Mantua, with 
the rest of Lombardy, to the Austrian crown. Before this 
last Duke had departed, he " divided among the Mantuan 
churches, corporations, and his private friends, more than 
900 pictures, besides marbles and smaller objects, lest they 
should fall into the hands of his enemies;" another proof, 
after all the stripping that had preceded, of the countless 
art-treasures of the family. 

During this i8th century, of Austrian rule, under Maria 
Theresa and her son Joseph II care was really taken of the 
Reggia and Palazzo Te, and much redecoration and refur- 
nishing done; which was continued, in the Empire mode 
during the succeeding Napoleonic era; so that a large 
number of the halls and chambers — including those occupied 



426 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

or used by the Viceroy, Prince Eugene Beauharnais, and his 
consort — ■ now exhibit the style of their period in the walls 
and floors, capped by the original cinquecento ceilings; a 
combination, as Mr. Blashfield truly remarks, which is really 
not at all inharmonious. This epoch was ushered in by 
Napoleon's famous siege of Mantua in 1796, — a frightful, 
long-drawn-out catastrophe, in which 60,000 Austrians under 
Wurmser resisted the victorious French for 9 months, en- 
during an incessant cannonade which nearly reduced the city 
to ashes, and surrendering at last only from starvation. It 
was upon this surrender that the French destroyed S. Fran- 
cesco and its monuments, together with fifty other churches; 
which has left the city comparatively so bare today of eccle- 
siastical structures. 

The impregnability of Mantua was thus demonstrated, to 
everything but hunger; although it was easily blockaded by 
posting bodies of troops at the ends of the five bridges leading 
from the city, — the Ponte Molino, the Ponte S. Giorgio, and 
the three crossing the southern moat and marshes. Yet 
when Bonaparte had gone to Egypt, and the Austrians ad- 
vanced in 1799 to besiege Mantua in their turn, it was 
surrendered to them by the French Commandant, Latour- 
Forssac, after three months only; an event which ever after- 
wards " roused his [Napoleon's] indignation to so high a 
pitch, that whenever the subject was mentioned he could 
find no words to express his rage." ^^ After Marengo the 
city was restored to the French without a blow; and some- 
time after the formation of the Kingdom of Italy by Na- 
poleon, his viceroy Eugene came to live in Mantua for 
awhile, bringing with him his charming young Princess, 
Amalia of Bavaria ; so that th': Reggia for a last time opened 
its superb halls to a regal court. Here they returned in the 

23 Bourrienne's " Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 427 

troublous days of 18 14, after Napoleon's abdication, while 
Eugene's throne hung in the balance; and in the suite of 
Ulmperatrice, the Princess gave birth to a son. Eugene, 
after defeating the Austrians near-by on the Mincio, had 
signed an armistice, hoping to keep Lombardy for his own. 
But upon the murder of his Minister of Finance, in the 
uprising of Milan on April 20, 18 14, in a foolish fit of 
anger he handed over the city to the Austrians, and fled with 
his wife to her father's court in Bavaria. In these final, sad 
scenes of the Napoleonic Epic, Eugene, as Lord Broughton 
remarked, " was guilty of something worse than precipitancy 
— when he seized the crown from selfishness, and surrendered 
it from spite. — Botta handed him over to the perpetual scorn 
of posterity for his surrender of Mantua." ^* 

The second occupany of the Austrians, from 1814 to 1866, 
was the devilish one: they quartered their brutal troops in 
the wonderful halls of the Palazzina, the Troia, the Mostra, 
the Cavallerizza, etc., where the savages even broke down 
the pendants of the ceilings to use for fuel ; they turned the 
Castello Vecchio into a prison, for Italian patriots ; they leased 
to the lowest class of people the Grotta, the Paradiso, and nu- 
merous other cherished apartments, which were then driven 
full of nails, defouled, and demolished in every brutish way; 
in a word, they appeared to expend upon the brick and plaster 
the venom which they felt for Italians. It was by the 
fortress of Mantua, and the rest of the Quadrilateral, that 
the Austrians stopped and turned back Charles Albert in 
1849. So thick and constantly discovered were the plots for 
Lombard uprisings in the following years, that the Castello 
was kept full of prisoner-patriots, and moist with their blood. 

In 1852 a great conspiracy involving hundreds of prom- 

24 Lord Broughton's "Remarks Made in Several Visits to Italy; 
(1816-1854). 



428 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

inent Lombards was unearthed, through the confession of a 
poor suspect who was tortured for three days; 150 of them 
were immediately arrested, and 9 leaders of the plot were 
hung, on the field of " Belfiore " outside the city-walls, in 
the month of December. They included Tito Sperl, the hero 
of Brescia, Pietro Frattini, the hero of the defence of Rome, 
Dr. Carlo Poma, a famous physician, and two venerated 
priests; and they have been known ever since as "the Martyrs 
of Belfiore." Countless were the patriots maltreated and 
done to death in that chief stronghold of the tyrants In Italy ; 
and justly is it now considered the most sacred of national 
shrines. The long agony was continued in Mantua's case 
after the war of 1859, because the Treaty of Zurich then 
adjudged the fortress still to Austria, with the rest of the 
Quadrilateral and Venetia; but 1866 brought the end of 
the people's sufferings, and their long-awaited freedom. 

Mantua's history during the Renaissance era was so inex- 
tricably bound up with her art that they have been summed 
up together; and there remains only to say a few words of 
the methods and the scholars of that master with whom 
the city is so strongly identified. " Julio Romano," wrote 
Broughton — " more than divides Mantua with her native 
Virgil." Perkins, on the other hand, expressed the reaction 
of the later 19th century when he said: " As Mantegna had 
elevated the standard of art in all its branches, so did Guillo 
Romano degrade it; while the one Christianised paganism, 
the other paganised Christianity." ^^ There Is much sense 
in the latter remark; but It remains for us to seek the mean 
of truth, — to recognise Giullo's great qualities of genius, 
while admitting his real defects. As a decorator he stands 
pre-eminent; the fertility of his fancy was Inexhaustible, and 
always original. His power of imagination has been rarely 

25 Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 429 

equalled ; who else could have conceived the " Battle of the 
Giants," — except Michelangelo himself? To the latter 
Lanzi compared him, when he said : " Giulio Pippi, the 
most distinguished of Raphael's scholars, resembled his master 
more in energy than in delicacy of style. — In grandeur of 
design he almost rivals Michelangiolo, completely mastering 
the whole mechanism of the human frame, which he bends 
and accommodates to his purposes with unerring skill; save 
that now and then, from over-anxiety to make his meaning 
plain, he is guilty of too much violence in his attitudes." ^^ 

We must recognise his underlying genius when we remem- 
ber that he drew all the cartoons, and in large part executed, 
the Loggie of Raphael in the Vatican. It was this sort of 
decoration which he carried to Mantua; and there, entirely 
unrestrained amidst the vast mass of works committed to 
his charge, he became lost in a lifelong orgy of neo-classicism 
and mythology, — in which, haste and the striving for grand 
effects gradually coarsened and impaired his manner. One 
might say that Giulio was practically entrusted with the 
rebuilding and readornment of the Gonzaga capital, on a 
grandiose scale commensurate with the family's glory, and 
to which they continually urged him on. Duke Federigo 
" in a transport of gratitude, was heard to exclaim, that 
Giulio was in truth more the master of the city than he 
himself. — A solitary instance, perhaps, in history, of one who, 
having erected the most noble and beautiful palaces, villas, 
and temples, painted and ornamented a considerable portion 
of them with his own hands; while at the same time a 
regular school of his pupils and assistants was formed in 
Mantua, which continued for a length of years. — So many 
chambers with gilded entablatures ; such a variety of beautiful 
stucco-work ; so many stories and capriccij finely conceived and 

26 Lanzi's " History of Painting," Vol. I. 



430 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

connected with one another; besides such a diversity of la- 
bours, adapted to different places and subjects ; — altogether 
form a collection of wonders, the honour of which Giulio 
divided with no other artist. For he himself conceived, 
composed, and completed these vast undertakings." He 
painted almost entirely in fresco, upon a daring scale; and 
what one must be careful to bear in mind in observing these 
works today (which so many critics have not done) is that 
they were all extensively retouched during the French and 
Austrian periods, sufficiently to destroy Giulio's faces, col-' 
ours, and expression, and leave in fact only his composition 
and figures. 

He was also especially noted, as Vasari truly remarked, for 
his production of first-class artists. Foremost among his pu- 
pils was Primaticcio, who rose to a solitary, supreme height 
in his world of stucco-fancies; he, with his talented fellow- 
pupil Niccolo dell'Abbate, afterwards repaired to the court 
of Francis I, to join Cellini in educating France in the Re- 
naissance. Rinaldo Mantovano was Giulio's chief local dis- 
ciple and painter, aiding the master greatly in his palatial 
frescoes. Benedetto Pagni, Fermo Guisoni, and Giov. Bat- 
tista Bertani were also important followers; the last-named 
being the one who continued the school after Giulio's death, 
also the decorations of the Reggia and many other buildings, 
becoming *' almost as another Giulio " to Dake Vincenzo 
I, — though a far inferior one. He was perhaps a better 
teacher than a painter: under him studied such brilliant 
artists as Giulio Campi, Brusasorci and Paolo Farinato of 
Verona, Giov. Batt. del Moro, and Paolo Veronese; which 
shows clearly to what a height of reputation the Mantuan 
school had attained. With the death of Bertani, however, it 
passed away; and from the school of the Campi, in turn, 
came Ant. Viani, " II Vianino," to decorate the Reggia for 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 431 

the remaining years of Duke Vincenzo and his three sons. 

Between the Augustan age of Virgil and the Renaissance 
period of Castiglione and Vittorino da Feltre, Mantua pro- 
duced one bright star of literature who cannot be overlooked 
in any summary of her past: this was Sordello, the poet of 
the early duecento who wrote his gay songs in Provengalj — 
in consequence of having been obliged to seek refuge in that 
region from the punishment of his licentious sins. In fact 
he has been well described as a kind of Italian Faust. Born 
at Goito near Mantua about 1200, he led a wild youthful 
life which terminated in a dangerous intrigue with Cunizza 
da Romano, Ezzelino's sister and the wife of Count Ric- 
cardo di S. Bonifazio; on whose discovery he had to flee 
for his life, not returning to Italy until 35 years later; when 
he reappeared in the train of Charles of Anjou, and was 
by that sovereign given lands in the Kingdom of Naples. 
There he died as he had lived, by violence, , in 1269. But 
his fame was wide as a ballad-maker, and increased with the 
years, — Dante mentioning him as " he who was so distin- 
guished by his eloquence, not only in poetry, but in every 
other kind of speech." In 1840 Robert Browning immor- 
talised him by his grand poem, " Sordello," which sets forth 
with wonderful genius the strange, brilliant, contradictory 
traits of the mediaeval Italian character. Mantua has hap- 
pily remembered her great singer in the name of her main 
piazza. 

Another important Mantuan writer was Capilupo, of Cas- 
tiglione's time; also Spagnuoli, the Carmelite poet; and at 
that epoch the city shone richly with a borrowed lustre for 
which her Marchesa Isabella was responsible, — in the com- 
positions poured forth to her, and about her, by the circle 
of poets she had gathered. A little later came Bernardo 
Tasso, to her son Guglielmo, by whom he was appointed 



432 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

chief secretary In 1563, and Governor of Ostiglla shortly 
after. In the latter position he died, in 1569, leaving his 
unfinished poem upon Floridante to be completed by Tor- 
quato, and dedicated to Duke Guglielmo; who in his turn 
erected a monument, now destroyed, over the poet's grave 
in the church of S. Egidio in Mantua. — 

To understand the topography of this city the shape of 
the peninsula must be borne in mind: the neck, crossed by 
the later fortifications of Brunelleschi and Giulio in a semi- 
circular, outward curve, is the broadest portion; the eastern 
side runs directly north, the western side generally northeast, 
and the upper side, northwest, from Ponte S. Giorgio to 
Ponte Molino. In the middle of the southern wall opens the 
main gate, Porta Pusterla, immediately without which lies 
the Palazzo del Te with its gardens, and from which 
the important Via Principe Amadeo runs northeastward till 
it joins with the other main thoroughfare, Corso Vitt. 
Emanuele (formerly Via Sogliari), coming eastward from 
the Porta Pradella, at the fortifications' western end. From 
the point of junction four piazzas stretch successively north- 
eastward, — the small ones of S. Andrea, delle Erbe, and 
Broletto, and the final great one of Sordello; between which 
and the eastern lake lies the vast enclosure of the Reggia. 
The latter, therefore, is generally triangular in shape, with 
the old Castello forming its northern point; past which, on 
its outer side, a narrow way leads eastward from Piazza 
Sordello's extremity to the Ponte S. Giorgio. The railroad 
lines from the west, east and south unite shortly without the 
Porta Pradella, and enter the city beside it, along the western 
lake-shore; there the station Is located, closely within the 
gate ; and the line to the north advances along the same shore, 
till it crosses the northern water on a bridge beside the Ponte 
Molino. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 433 

The journey from Cremona was a monotonous ride of 
several hours, always directly east across the luxuriant plain, 
with Its countless streams flowing southward to the Po. At 
Pladena a branch-line from Brescia crossed, heading also 
southward, to Casalmagglore on the Po, — a small town not 
worth a visit today, but of some historic interest as having 
been for centuries the most formidable stronghold of the 
Gonzaghl, equipped with a giant fortress that was considered 
Impregnable before the days of cannon. By it they kept 
their hands upon the great river, and controlled more or less 
its shipping. Lassels, who visited the place while the Gon- 
zaghl were still in power, spoke of it as the Duke's " strong 
tower of Casal, one of the strongest places I saw in all 
Italy: having an excellent CIttadel at one end of it; a strong 
castle at the other, and strong ditches, walls, and ramparts 
everywhere." ^'' But all these, like their ducal sovereigns, 
have gone the way of the past. 

We crossed the wide, impetuous Oglio, approaching Man- 
tua through the ever-laughing garden of wheat and mulberry, 
corn and vine; so that I thought of Dickens' words: " Was 
the way to Mantua as beautiful when Romeo was banished 
thither, I wonder? Did it wind through pasture-lands as 
green, bright with the same glancing streams, and dotted with 
fresh clumps of graceful trees? " ^^ There was no sign here, 
not even as we came very near, of that marsh-land which — 

" In Mantuan territory is slough, 
Half pine-tree forest; maples, scarlet oaks 
Breed o'er the river beds ; even Mincio chokes 
With sand the summer through, but 'tis morass 
In winter up to Mantua's walls." ^9 

27 Richard Lassels' Travels (1630-40). 

28 Dickens' '' Pictures in Italy." 

29 Browning's " Sordello." 



434 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Yet as we approached those walls, there it lay to the north, 
— water, swamp and rushes: the far-spreading, green-blue 
Lago Superiore, bounded by sedge so thick and banks so level 
and devoid of buildings, that it was difficult to see where the 
water ended and the land began. But already we were in 
the station; and descending to a hotel 'bus, I was rattled 
down the broad, ancient Via Sogliari, which in donning its 
new dignity of " Corso Vitt. Emanuele," appeared to have 
been making efforts to be clothed in modern architecture. 
For the stagnant old city has been moving in recent years, 
and has now once more a population of 30,000. I shall not 
give the name of the hotel to which I was taken ; for though 
of good reputation, fair rooms and excellent cooking, its 
service was so unsatisfactory that at last, one morning after 
waiting long in vain for a bit of breakfast, in despair I 
quitted the house for another.^^ Wretched service is a vile 
destroyer of peace of mind. This second inn, Albergo Sen- 
noner, proved itself a large, clean, Italian hostelry of the 
Lombard type, simple but well served, and of comfortable 
rooms. It was centrally located, on Via Principe Amadeo 
(here called Via Magistrato) just a block south of the 
Piazza of S. Andrea; which also has been rechristened, after 
Andrea Mantegna. 

Thither I proceeded, in the cool of the afternoon, by way 
of the picturesque old Via Sogliari, curving between its ir- 
regular arcades upon heavy, time-worn columns, that ran 
sometimes on one side only, again on both ; their capitals now 
showing erection in the gothic era, now in the romanesque, 
while the connecting arches were often entirely lacking. 
The three-storied stucco facades above were likewise varie- 
gated, in contrasting hues of green and blue and different 

^^ I have recently been informed by travellers that the manage- 
ment has changed, and the service become first class. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 435 

shades of brown. Flanking the narrow, low, dark side- 
passages were tiny shops of every nature, including the in- 
evitable, numerous cafes, with their chairs and tables sprawl- 
ing between the columns; where these were not, stalls often 
stood, vending articles of the cheaper grades, and aiding 
further to shut out the light. Very little had changed here 
since the Gonzaga days, except the " American bars " and the 
frequent cinematograph-places. The crowd was intense, 
standing, about conversing in dense throngs ; and I always 
found it so here, — especially upon market-days, when one 
could hardly move for the multitude. 

The piazza itself was long and but slightly broader than 
the street, not distinguished except by the imposing church 
of S. Andrea at its northern end, gleaming amidst the other 
buildings with its classic marble fagade. This was designed 
by Alberti, about 1472, in the form of a mighty triumphal 
arch, flanked on each side by three windows, in a vertical 
row, and two huge corinthian pilasters, — a curious pre- 
cursor of Palladio's style; over the flat pediment rose an odd 
secondary archway, behind which soared invisible the lofty 
dome; and at the left towered its earlier brick campanile, of 
141 4, pierced by three tiers of elegant gothic windows in 
terracotta frames — the topmost triple-arched, with red 
marble shafts and very beautiful decoration,— and capped 
by an octagonal open belfry with a slender conical spire. 
The square-headed marble frame of the main portal, beneath 
the great arch, was handsomely adorned with arabesque re- 
liefs. 

Entering, I beheld an interior of such majestic dimensions 
and impressive vaulting, ennobled by such a superb dome 
and pure classic lines, that I paused in genuine amazement. 
There were no columns nor piers to obstruct the view; the 
extremely broad nave, beneath its lofty, rounded roof painted 



436 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

in simulation of coffering, was flanked on each side by three 
deep, arched chapels, also lofty, crowned by vaulting of real 
coffer-work, in gold on white, and fenced off by handsome 
balustrades of Siena marble; while the wall-spaces between 
them were adorned each with a massive corniced doorway, a 
large fresco, and a circular window, enclosed between tall 
Corinthian pilasters at the angles, — whose gilded caps sup- 
ported the general frieze, of carved, winged putti-heads 
interspersed with patterns of grisaille. From the imposing 
dome, soaring above the intersection of the spacious transept, 
descended a well of soft white light. Around the deep, 
apsidal choir extended the same architectural scheme of pilas- 
ters, side-arches and frieze, illumined by the great fresco 
glowing from its half-dome, — so far away, that the verger 
upon the high-altar, arranging the candles, seemed the size 
of a small boy, and barely discernible behind him was the 
dark semicircle of sculptured stalls. 

Six more large frescoes decorated the entrance-wall, — two 
above each doorway; all of those in sight were of unusually 
light tone and colouring, so that, in spite of the huge figures, 
in their tableaux from the New Testament, they did not dis- 
tract the attention from the whole grand architectural effect. 
This, according to Symonds, was derived by Alberti from the 
enormous vaulted baths of the ancients at Rome, — those 
coffered halls of Diocletian and Caracalla which still stand. 
" The combination of these antique details in an imposing 
structure implied a high imaginative faculty at a moment 
when the rules of classic architecture had not been as yet re- 
duced to a method." ^^ This was one of the first churches of 
the Renaissance, as well as one of the grandest, for whose 
forms they went back to the purely classical : " the type " — 
wrote Ferguson — " of all those churches which, from St. 

31 J. A. Symonds' " Fine Arts." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 437 

Peter's downwards, have been erected — in the past 3 cen- 
turies." The nave was finished in 1494; but Alberti's de- 
signs for the transept and choir were not fulfilled until about 
1600, when Ant. Viani carried them out; — for which he 
deserves much credit, in that decadent age, seeing that he did 
not alter them in any way. The dome was not added until 
the 1 8th century. The only feature I did not like was the 
huge, disproportionate archway of the fagade, which, as Sy- 
monds remarked, *' serves only for a decoration. Too high 
and spacious even for the chariots of a Roman triumph, it 
forms an unappropriate entrance to the modest vestibule of a 
Christian church." 

The frescoes of the nave were also later works, of 
the Decadence. The doors in the intermediate wall-spaces 
proved to open into smaller, cubical side chapels, four on each 
hand; and the first of them to left was that dedicated to S. 
Giovanni, which Andrea Mantegna himself built and 
adorned, and in which he lies buried. Through a locked 
iron grating I saw, by the dim light of one small window, a 
cell-like chamber with a flat cupola, which was painted in the 
centre with that Gonzaga device of a red sun and a golden 
crown, whose use was granted to the artist in 1469 by Lodo- 
vico III. In the floor lay a slab of red marble, covering the 
grave, bearing the inscription: " Ossa Andreae Mantinii 
Famosissimi," etc., with the date, 1506. On the left wall 
was a round plaque bearing a bronze bust of the master, 
wonderful in its lifelikeness and force of expression. " The 
expression of the face is grave, earnest and searching, the 
modelling bold, vigorous and true to nature, and the treat- 
ment of the hair, which falls in long curling locks on either 
side of the laurel-wreathed head, is most masterly. This 
consummate work of art, which is perhaps the finest of 
modern bronze busts, has been attributed to Mantegna, — 



438 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

but it is more than probable that it was cast after his death — 
and that the tradition is correct which assigns it to the 
famous medallist, Sperandio Maglioli." ^^ There was further 
adornment upon the walls, in the form of some faded fres- 
coes by the artist's son Francesco, and three large canvases 
by his school ; of these two were poor works, and the third 
an unusually fine Baptism of Christ, of noble figures and 
deep feeling, in a splendid tone and atmosphere. 

Over the second altar to left I admired an exceedingly 
beautiful though damaged specimen of Lorenzo Costa's 
work, — a large, richly toned canvas of Madonna and saints, 
graceful in figures and composition, and of languorous, bliss- 
ful atmosphere. The sixth chapel to right held the alleged 
sepulchre of St. Longinus, consisting of a simple stucco sar- 
cophagus in classic lines, affixed to the rear wall, painted 
dark brown with gilt trimmings; while roundabout were 
some large frescoes said to have been designed by Giulio 
Romano, representing the Crucifixion and the discovery of 
the vessel containing Christ's blood; these, however, were 
over-crowded and over-strenuous, besides being damaged by 
repairing. Upon the altar stood a pleasing cinquecento can- 
vas, an Adoration of the Child by the Maries and Longinus, 
possessing fine qualities of tone and drawing. The tomb of 
Bishop Andreasi in the right transept was interesting: a 
black marble sarcophagus, supported on a huge black swan 
between two smaller white sphinxes, with two graceful fe- 
male Virtues of white marble, leaning upon the base and 
weeping; it was carved by Prospero Clementi about 1550. 

In the dome I observed an enormous Empyrean with count- 
less figures, said to have been done by the Campi, but so high 
that the details were lost; directly beneath it on the pave- 
ment was an octagonal space railed in by a Siena-marble 

32 Perkins' "Italian Sculptors." 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 439 

balustrade, covering the spot where the vessel of St. Longinus 
is supposed to be buried; and round it the people knelt rev- 
erently in worship of those imaginary drops of blood. The 
large fresco in the apse proved to be a Crucifixion of St. 
Andrew, containing an extraordinary number of heroic 
figures, and so lifelike as to be fairly harrowing; its author 
was Fermo Guisoni, according to Layard and Lanzi, — the 
latter saying that the picture " both in point of design and 
force of colouring is indeed admirable." Near-by was a 
curious kneeling figure in marble, of the church's founder, 
Lodovico Gonzaga, portraying faithfully his rounded shoul- 
ders and long beard, with a quaint expression on the face. 
There was one other interesting piece of sculpture, the monu- 
ment of Pietro Strozzi designed by Giulio (about 1530), 
placed in the southern chapel of the left transept: four stal- 
wart caryatides, facing to front and rear, upheld a white 
base and a black sarcophagus, on whose top reposed the de- 
cedent's figure, on its side,, — a rather unusual and striking 
design. Roundabout it lay many other tombs, and fragments 
of still others, brought hither, like Strozzi's, from demolished 
churches. — Mr. Berenson places a work of Fran. Torbido 
here also, representing God the Father with the two Sts. 
John, — over the second altar to right. 

At the northeastern corner of this Piazza Mantegna a. 
narrow opening connects it directly with the ancient Piazza. 
delle Erbe, dominated by its picturesque old city clock-tower, 
or Torre delV Orologio. The latter's square, ponderous 
form, of begrimed and crumbling stucco, rises on the eastern 
side of the parallelogram, at the southern end of the arcaded 
Palazzo della RagionCj or town-hall; its huge clock-face at 
mid-height, shaded by a curving cornice like an eyebrow, 
gazes with its cyclopean eye over the village of umbrella- 
stands and canvas-roofed stalls hiding the pavement below, 



440 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

and through the connecting passage, across the neighbouring 
Piazza of S. Andrea. Just beneath It stands an image of 
the Virgin, upon a crescent moon within an oval niche, 
underset by a heavy, baroque, marble balcony; and upon the 
tower's peaked summit swings the town-bell In the open, sur- 
rounded by dwarf-obelisks at the corners. The old stuccoed 
palazzo likewise looks as if It had always needed painting or 
cleaning, and never received It; before it stretches the long, 
projecting arcade, of stucco arches on slender marble col- 
umns, which bulge with stands of vegetables, grain and fruits ; 
and above, rises a single upper storey with oblong baroque 
windows. At the north the piazza is closed by a protruding 
three-storied wing, of similar stained stucco, which ends in a 
square brick tower, lofty and bare of windows, capped by an 
open belfry. Thus has the original palace of the 13th cen- 
tury been mutilated by the ages. 

The western side of the piazza consists of a number of 
mediaeval houses, rising upon the usual continuous arcade, 
filled with shops and stalls. The southern side is plain, ex- 
cept for the southwest corner, where stands the only hand- 
some feature of the square: a narrow, four-storied brick 
building, erected in 1444 by Brancaforte, embellished with 
the most exquisite terracotta ornamentation, — of gothic ar- 
caded string-courses with miniature spiral columns, magnifi- 
cent pointed window-frames, and richly moulded cornices; 
all rising upon a ground-arcade of fine red-marble shafts. 
— This picturesque old Piazza Erbe Is the true heart of 
the city, the crowded centre of Its traffic and its gossip: 
thronged as I have pictured It, at morning and midday, but 
closing up a large portion of its booths, like folding floivers, 
with the westward sinking of the sun. 

Traversing another short passage, beside the brick tower, 
I entered the smaller Piazza Broletto on the Palazzo's north: 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 441 

along its west side continued the street proper, with its ar- 
cades and shops, and upon the northern and eastern sides 
rose common, old, stuccoed buildings; with this exception, — 
that from the Palazzo, behind the tower, there leapt at a 
goodly height across a street leading eastward, to the near- 
est house, a quaint two-storied archway, making a wide brick 
curve. This charming relic of the gothic age was adorned 
in its lower division with two beautiful triple-arched win- 
dows, having marble shafts, and in its upper, with a delight- 
ful marble colonnade, of slender, coupled members, one be- 
hind another; It was an archway such as one finds In Italy 
alone. Near-by on the Palazzo's northern wall, looking over 
the inevitable aggregation of canvas-covered stands filling 
the square's centre, sat a strange, archaic, marble figure, of 
lifesize, within a large, elaborate gothIc niche, displaying 
an amused but placid smile upon Its bulbous features. It 
was Mantua's monument to her beloved Virgil, erected in 
1220. 

" Proud of having given birth to Virgil, Mantua elevated 
him to be her prince, painted his likeness upon her banners, 
and engraved It upon her coins ; and when in the beginning of 
the 13th century her citizens had raised the siege of the castle 
of Gonzaga and repulsed the Cremonese, the magistrates 
decreed that to commemorate the event a statue of the great 
poet should be placed in a niche above the Piazza, whence it 
might look down as if taking part in the joys and sorrows 
of his compatriots. As it was undoubtedly made by their 
best sculptor, we are justified in taking it as a proof that his 
art was then In a rude state. Virgil is seated before a read- 
ing-desk upon which lies a book, wearing the cap of a rector 
of the people and a long robe." ^^ The crude, coupled, 
gothic columns and the peculiar foliated reliefs of the pointed 

33 Perkins' " Italian Sculptors." 



442 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

arch of the canopy, are also very interesting and significant 
of the then state of the sculptor's art. 

Another short passage now led me at last, beneath a lofty 
brick archway containing dwelling-rooms, into the vast and 
famous Piazza Sordello. Its enormous extent flashed upon 
me with surprise, stretching far away to the north, and up a 
gentle slope to the east; so that the mighty palace-city of 
the Gonzaghi, upon which I gazed for the first time, raised 
its long and variegated fagade of many epochs on the summit 
of an elevation, — which was the site of the first settlement 
between the lakes. The centre of the huge parallelogram, 
cobble-paved and grass-grown, was marked by a marble monu- 
ment with a tall obelisk, topped by a female figure bearing 
a crown of glory and a flag, — Mantua's memorial to the 
Martyrs of Belfiore. It consisted of a mound of artificial 
rocks fully lOO feet long, a ponderous granite base mounted 
by flights of steps, and a large square pedestal beneath the 
obelisk, adorned with a sculptured lion on the front side, 
and carved in relievo with the grouped busts of the heroes 
upon a golden ground. 

Behind this the giant fagade of the Reggia crested the 
slope, in four or five different buildings. Proceeding north- 
ward, the first portion, and latest, consisted of a long front 
of crumbling brown stucco, pierced with three tiers of very 
modern windows, shaded by a row of fine horsechestnut trees, 
and overtopped by a tall mediaeval brick tower, rising some- 
what to east of the corner, and frowning down with gaunt, 
unwindowed walls. Next came the original gothic palace 
of the Buonacolsi, where the Gonzaghi first gained their 
power by the tyrant's assassination in 1328: it consisted of 
two structures, — the first a lofty, four-storied, gothic, brick 
edifice, rising upon a splendid renovated arcade, of red- 
marble columns and pillars supporting pointed brick arches, 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 443 

with voussoirs in alternate red and yellow bands. Above, 
the major part of its windows had also been recently recon- 
structed in the original manner: the single-arched openings 
of the first floor being pointed in the northern half, rounded 
in the southern ; those of the second floor were a row of small 
square apertures; and those of the third, or piano nobile, 
a row of six superb gothic double-arches with marble shafts, 
recessed in brown brick frames with several white quoins 
to the outer arch, — " the most exquisite examples of their 
class," said Street, '' that I anywhere met with ; " the eaves 
were crowned by picturesque, forked battlements of the 
Ghibelline style. Behind those upper windows lay the great 
hall where Pius II gathered his general council of the Church 
to deliberate upon his crusade against the Turks. 

The second Buonacolsi structure rose upon a similar ar- 
cade, of pointed brick arches with red and white quoins, 
resting on heavy marble columns; above which its brownish, 
brick fagade was irregularly broken by a scattering mixture: 
of variegated windows, — large and small, single and double- 
arched, gothic and romanesque, some enclosed in frames of 
elaborately coloured brickwork ; ^^^ there were no battle- 
ments, but the whole effect was most picturesque. This was 
the oldest part of the Reggia, — and the last used for a royall 
purpose: for in Its first-floor rooms, in 18 14, dwelt the ill- 
fated Prince Eugene and his consort. Beyond this the fa- 
gade became a plain, unwindowed, stucco wall supported 
upon a heavy stucco arcade, entirely painted yellow, fronting 
upon the northern bay of the piazza; it was not an edifice 
proper, but the face of the vaults upholding the Reggias 

33a All these windows, according to my latest advices, are being 
rapidly restored to their original designs, of the early epoch of 
the Gonzaghi ; so that my description will probably not accord 
with what the visitor now sees. 



444 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

extraordinary hanging garden. At its end came a queer 
sort of small triumphal archway, likewise of yellow stucco, 
guarding — as I later found — the entrance-passage to the 
extensive series of courtyards; and beyond this again was a 
modern covered market, used in the annual July fairs, which 
stands upon the ground formerly occupied by the ducal thea- 
tre, — the latter having been pulled down several years ago 
on account of its tottering and dangerous condition. 

Returning to the piazza proper ^* I gazed at its western 
side, which was fully as picturesque as the eastern, — a suc- 
cession of ancient, stuccoed, mouldering palaces, of divers 
styles. The two southernmost were of the gothic era, grim, 
decayed and battlemented, deprived by the changes of time 
of nearly all their original pointed windows of the 13th cen- 
tury. Once they were the splendid houses of noble and 
famous families : that next the southern entrance-arch was the 
Palazzo Cadenazzi, topped by an enormous brick fighting- 
tower, rising someway back; from the adjacent southern 
street I could see the iron cage still fastened to its side near 
the crumbling top, in which the Buonacolsi were wont to 
expose their unhappy prisoners for three days running, at the 
time when they possessed the palace; — hence its name of 
Torre della Gabbia. The other structure was the Palazzo 
Castiglione (originally Buonacolsi), where the family of the 
renowned poet-courtier dwelt in after years. (The house 
to which he brought the fair young Ippolita Torelli of Bo- 
logna, on that bright October day of 15 16 when Isabella and 
Elisabetta Gonzaga stood in the entrance-hall to welcome 
his bride, then stood near-by, in the Via Pradella.) Here 
was the portal which received the Buonacolsi in their days 
of power, with its broad marble arch adorned with foliated 

3* Its northern bay is but half the width of the main part of the 
square, — which is ihus narrowed by the bulky Cathedral. 



MANTOVA LA GLORIOSA 445 

reliefs, and the handsome marble balcony just overhead; four 
out of the seven great triple windows of the second floor 
also linger yet, with their gleaming slender marble columns. 
North of this stretched the huge Palazzo Vescovlle, In Its 
ugly, stuccoed, rococo fagade of Inharmonious broken lines 
and make-believe solidity, painted the usual yellowish brown 
of that period, — Its window-frames and cornices shaped In 
convoluted baroque, with the customary imitation-pilasters 
laid on, to add a little dignity. Two giant Hermes stood 
beside the doorway to support the balcony above, and a 
long row of urns and statues crowned the balustrade of the 
roof. It was a typical building of the i8th century. Ad- 
jacent, facing southwestward from the left side of the piaz- 
za's end, stood the Cathedral which Glullo rebuilt,^ its 
fagade likewise of yellowish stucco and baroque design; four 
mighty Corinthian pilasters upheld Its entablature and pedi- 
ment In classic form, embracing the three plain doorways 
and rococo windows. Between Its right side and the Reggia 
extended the piazza's long northern bay, the former looking 
upon It with a mass of beautiful cotta decorations' — of the 
earlier, gothic church, — In frieze, cornice, window-mould- 
ings and gables. Here also, behind the transept, rose its 
massive, tall, plastered campanile, of the 12th century, pierced 
near the top with three Irregular rows of romanesque arcaded 
windows. — The Interior of the Duomo, as the sun was set- 
ting, I left for another day; and wended my way slowly 
backward through the long series of shadowy, historic piaz- 
zas, calling up visions of the countless dead, famous and In- 
famous, who had thronged them thus at eventide during two 
thousand years. 



CHAPTER XIII 

MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 

*' The noble-minded Isabel, who, where 
It stands on Mincio's bank, in other age 
Shall gild the town of Ocnus' mother hight. 
With her own glorious rays, by day and night; 
Where with her worthiest consort she will strain 
In honoured and in splendid rivalry, 
Which best shall prize the virtues' goodly train, 
And widest ope the gates to courtesy. — 
'Twill be upheld, Penelope, the chaste, 
As such, was not beneath Ulysses placed." 

Ariosto's " Orlando Furioso " ; Rose's Tran. 

Mantua has been unusually distinguished by her women. 
In the glorious Renaissance days she had not only Isabella 
d'Este, but Ellsabetta Gonzaga, and Leonora Gonzaga, Isa- 
bella's daughter, — both duchesses of Urbino, and both re- 
markable for their wit, learning and accomplishments. In 
the Middle Age she had that foremost of all Italian women, 
Matilda of Tuscany, "La Gran Donna d'ltalia/* who made 
Mantua her home and the capital of her wide domains, as 
her fathers had done before her.^ Thence she defied Em- 
peror Henry IV and entered Into a league against him with 
the Guelfs and various cities ; in consequence of which Henry 
besieged the city In 1090, capturing it after a year's wait by 
the aid of treachery. In the latter part of her long and 
eventful life Matilda devoted much time and treasure to the 
neighbouring convent of S. Benedetto, about 15 miles distant, 
which was founded by her grandfather Tebaldo, and enriched 

iMrs. M. E. Huddy's "Matilda, Countess oi Tuscany." 

446 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 447 

by her with many grants of land, besides her celebrated 
collection of manuscripts. There she was buried, in a " beau- 
tiful, simple ark of alabaster, upheld by eight slender col- 
umns; " ^ but her remains were later removed to St. Peter's 
at Rome, where they now lie, beneath Bernini's splendid 
memorial. 

Matilda and her line were closely connected with the 
grand old gothic Cathedral of Mantua, which Giulio Romano 
transformed into a classic temple; but its walls and founda- 
tions remain the same. And it was to Countess Matilda that 
my thoughts first turned, when I repaired to visit it on the 
morning after my arrival. Here her father. Marquis Boni- 
face,^ was buried, and the place where his ashes rest is marked 
by a black stone in the west wall of the retro-choir, cut with . 
this inscription in Latin: ''Here lies the excellent Lord 
Boniface, Marquis and Father of the most serene Lady 
Countess Matilda, who died May 6, 1052." Here her 
worthy friend and valued counsellor, Anselm, was buried in 
1086, with great ceremony ; and within these walls was held 

2 Nora Duff's "Matilda of Tuscany." 

3 It was he that gathered together the enormous estates afterward 
so worthily administered by Matilda, who was the chief support of 
Pope Hildebrand in his contest with Emperor Henry IV; her pos- 
oessions included " a great part of Tuscany, the province of Viterbo 
as far as Orvieto, the province of Umbria, practically all the 
Marche of Ancona, and the cities of Mantua, Parma, Piacenza, 
Reggio, Ferrara, Modena and Verona." (Annali del Friuli.) She 
had her due revenge for the taking of Mantua when she lived to 
witness Henry standing barefoot on the frozen ground, fasting and 
praying three days before the Pope's castle of Canossa, until Hilde- 
brand accepted his abject repentance. Upon Matilda's death, in 
1115, she completed her unequalled benefactions to the Papacy by 
devising to it in perpetuity those provinces of Umbria and Viterbo, 
which formed at once the beginning, and ever afterwards the prin- 
cipal part, of the temporal " States of the Church." 



448 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

that general council of the Church and princes, in 1064, to 
discuss the validity of the recent election of Alexander II to 
the Papacy. The Pope and the College of Cardinals were 
escorted all the way from Rome by Matilda and her step- 
father, — Duke Godfrey; and they were met at the city's 
outskirts by her mother, with a glittering cortege. All the 
decorations and entertainments were upon a magnificent scale. 
The conclave duly approved Alexander's election (the choice 
of Hildebrand) — although it was attacked one day by a 
crowd of rioters, instigated by the latter's enemies ; these were 
forcing their way into the Cathedral with arms in hand, 
when the Countess-Mother arrived with troops just in time 
to prevent a tragedy. 

But of this storied past not a sign was visible, as I stood 
gazing down the imposing, colonnaded nave; all was gran- 
deur, gilding, and comparative newness; none would dream 
that a gothic edifice of momentous history once occupied the 
place of this Roman temple. Giulio did his work not only 
thoroughly, but superbly : * down each side ran two long rows 
of beautiful corinthian columns, tall and finely proportioned, 
topped by no arches, but by rich continuous architraves of 
frieze and cornice, adorned with gilded marble reliefs; form- 
ing thus double aisles upon each hand, the first covered with 
rounded vaulting, elaborately stuccoed and painted, the sec- 
ond roofed with lower, flat ceilings, of similar decoration. 
The spacious building, thus open from wall to wall, presented 
a grand spectacle with these four noble colonnades, rising 

* " Giulio dashed here " — said Forsyth In his " Excursion in 
Italy" (1801) — "into all the irregularities of genius, and ran 
after the Tuscan graces, the mighty, the singular, the austere, the 
emphatic." Eustace in his " Classical Tour," called it " a very reg- 
ular and beautiful edifice," and the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, 
" an exquisite specimen of Mantuan taste." 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 449 

from the polished marble floor. Overhead the nave was 
lighted by a row of oblong windows on each side, alternating 
with large niches occupied by statues; between which Corin- 
thian pilasters mounted, to sustain the upper, gilded cornice. 
Its roof was flat, and heavily coffered, with more exuberance 
of gilding. Triumphal arches separated the transept from 
the nave, and from the lofty high-altar-recess, and over the 
intersection soared the white cylinder of the dome. The 
spaciousness was further emphasized by the numerous domed 
side-chapels, opening into each other by connecting archways. 
Halfway down the left side stood the covered pulpit be- 
tvi^een two columns, square in shape, raised high upon four 
slender corinthian shafts, its sides decorated with stucco re- 
liefs. At the beginning of the outer left aisle I observed 
a fine marble sarcophagus of the 12th century, bearing on 
its gabled lid an interesting relief of the Nativity. The first 
few chapels here had no noteworthy contents, but farther 
down there opened a deep passage leading to Alberti's hand- 
some chapel of the Incoronata: this was of delightfully har- 
monious lines, in the form of a Greek cross, crowned by a 
cupola; and contained three canvases from the school of 
Giulio, — one of them a pretty Madonna with angels. At 
the end of the left transept opened another striking chapel, 
that of the Sacrament, designed by Giulio in an octagonal 
form, with its walls and dome profusely covered by stucco 
reliefs, gilded and painted. The recessed archways running 
around the walls held seven large canvases, mostly by Ro- 
mano himself, all of exceeding grace and naturalness, richly 
toned and highly finished: the four Evangelists occupied the 
corners, a martyrdom of S. Gregorio the right side, and a 
S. Margherita of Cortona being crowned by an angel, the 
left side; while over the altar were seen the Saviour and 
Sts. Peter and Andrew on the Lake of Galilee, — a very life- 



450 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

like composition. Lanzi says that Fermo Guisoni painted the 
last, from one of Giulio's cartoons ; and Berenson . ascribes 
the S. Margherita to Brusasorci, the Martyrdom to Paolo 
Farinata, — in which last he is probably right. 

The floor-space beneath the dome I found divided from the 
nave by a red marble balustrade, and reserved for the choir, 
for which there was not sufficient room in the shallow lady- 
chapel; the cupola, above the 8 windows of its drum, was 
painted with a huge Gloria of the decadent periods Other 
frescoes of no account adorned the rounded vaulting of the 
transepts, which was of even height with the flat roof of the 
nave; and a huge work by the early seicentistj Domenico 
Feti, decorated the half-dome of the apse. In the eastern 
line of side-chapels appeared one more noteworthy painting, 
a canvas of S. Eligio shoeing a horse, by Paolo Farinata, — 
over the altar nearest the front. 

On leaving the church, I proceeded down the northern 
bay of the piazza between it and the hanging garden of the 
Reggia, turned slightly to the right at the farther end, by 
the covered market, and passing eastward along the lat- 
ter's side, through a modern city-gateway for the taking of 
dazio-dutits, emerged upon the western shore of the northern 
lake beside the ancient Castello. There it lay mirror-like be- 
tween its reedy shores, — the long stretch of greenish-blue 
water beloved by Isabella, curving round in a great quarter- 
circle from the north to the eastern bridge — the Ponte S. 
Giorgio, — whose innumerable brick arches ran straightaway 
for over half a mile. The lake proper was narrowed to half 
this breadth by the large extent of rushes along its farther 
side, growing so thickly as to seem at the first glance like 
solid land ; behind them rose a gentle green slope of meadows 
and trees, in whose full stretch but a solitary building was 
visible; trees of every size lined the water's edge, and ex- 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 451 

tended inland in dense groves to distant rows of poplars. 
But that which endowed the whole scene with marvel and 
majesty — it being a clear day, of distant views — was the 
magical chain of snow-white mountains glittering down from 
the northern horizon, — jagged, innumerable and far-stretch- 
ing, suspended seemingly in the deep blue sky, at once for- 
midable and of entrancing beauty ; they were the Alps behind 
Verona and Vicenza, — ^visible thus clearly only when the at- 
mosphere is transparent. 

On the lake's bosom moved a single vessel, a heavy ancient 
barge with flapping yellow sail, propelled by sweeps, which 
had evidently just passed the draw of the bridge, coming up 
from the Po; a number of dingy-looking fishing boats, also, 
were drawn up on the hither shore, and beside them kneeled 
a throng of brightly-dressed women, washing their linen 
on the stones. Seldom subsequently did I behold any 
more life than this upon the sleeping, forgotten water, 
which seemed to have in its peaceful vista some Lethean, 
soporific spell, suggesting utter unchangeableness from the 
days when the boy Virgil played upon its banks. 

" In the meadows at Mantua, 
But to have lain upon the grass 
One perfect day, one perfect hour, 
Beholding all things mortal pass 
Into the quiet of green grass." ^ 

Upon the long, historic bridge, with its extensive solid ap- 
proaches, its countless brick arches, and its double draw lifted 
by heavy balance-beams on arched supports, the movement 
was much more animated. At its farther end rose a high 
square guard-tower, of formidable look; and through this 
there came galloping, two by two, headed by a dashing cap- 

^ A' Syraon§. 



452 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

tain, a full troop of cavalry, a hundred strong, — increasing 
from black dots to a thunderous whirlwind dashing by. 
Then a funeral plodded solemnly to the other shore, — the 
simple, open hearse, bearing the coffin covered only by a pall 
and flowers, being followed by a dozen orderless male mourn- 
ers on foot, and three coaches of women. Besides this the 
ordinary traffic was continuous, — a chain of contadini al- 
ways passing each way, with their heavy two-wheeled carts, 
wagons drawn by oxen, and occasional lighter vehicles. But 
the grand old Castello, to whose foot the bridge brought them, 
glowered mightily down from its machicolated towers as 
though no change had taken place since the days of knights 
and armour; ancient indeed it appeared, in its rough, stained 
brick walls, but as intact, as ponderous and menacing, as 
when it lorded over the countryside far and wide. 

In general shape it was a huge quadrangle, three storeys 
high, surrounded still by the deep, wide moat, now drained 
of its water ; at each of the four corners rose a massive square 
tower, projecting from the mass and one storey taller, capped 
with machicolations of imposing depth, and battlements now 
built up and roofed over. Subsidiary towers projected from 
the middle of the western and southern sides, to guard the 
bridges there crossing the moat and connecting with the rest 
of the palace-city; that on the west was a covered, masonry 
bridge, and on the south Giulio Romano had built his famous 
staircase, crossing to the adjacent palace of S. Sebastiano 
with the state apartments of the Trojan Cycle. All around 
the castle, above its spreading base, ran a rounded mould- 
ing of white stone or marble; beneath which opened a series 
of small, deep, heavily barred windows, just above the water- 
line, marking the original dungeons. The upper windows 
had been evidently made over in modern times, being square 
and f rameless, — all except two remaining gothic apertures 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 453 

in the northwest tower, of double, pointed arches, in fair 
brick frames. 

The northeast tower, in its second storey above ground, 
holds the celebrated Camera degli Sposi. Beside the south- 
east one there projected from the fagade toward the lake an 
extra, small, battlemented turret, three storeys in height, in 
whose first floor above ground was the original retreat con- 
structed by Isabella, which she called her " Studiolo " ; upon 
her son's marriage a bridge was thrown from this turret 
across the moat, and a small structure erected on the farther 
side which was named the Palazzina; this, however, becom- 
ing shaky, was demolished in 1899, leaving Isabella's turret 
as it originally stood. — Here a full view was afforded of the 
aforesaid wing of the castle built upon its south by Giulio, 
containing the state apartments of the Trojan Cycle: ex- 
ternally, it was but a large, ruinous, stucco building of two 
storeys, with only one remnant of its former glory, — a group 
of three fine renaissance windows, fronting upon the lake 
from the middle of the piano nobile, with red marble frames. 

Advancing upon the Ponte S. Giorgio, I saw the Lago In- 
feriore stretching away to the south for 2 or 3 miles, enclosed 
in similar beds of rushes and low, wooded banks, with no 
buildings visible except some of the long roofs of the Reggia 
over the tree tops. To northwest the lake-shore was lined 
by low houses and gardens, turning their backs upon the 
muddy coast. I returned to Piazza Sordello, and my inn; 
and on starting forth again after lunch, took the eastward 
turning from Piazza Broletto, under the beautiful colonnaded 
archway already mentioned. After passing a peculiar palace 
with a front exactly like a late-Renaissance church, and a 
lofty mediaeval brick tower, unwindowed and resting upon 
a base of Roman stones, I reached the Piazza Dante, contain- 
ing a statue of that poet in its central grass-plot. Here 



454 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

were gathered all of Mantua's art-institutions; the Reale 
Accademia Virgiliana di Scienze e Belle Artt, founded by 
Maria Teresa, and the more recent Museo Patrioj together 
occupied an imposing palazzo of 1767, on the piazza's east- 
ern side, having a modern stuccoed fagade distinguished by 
a row of huge ionic pilasters two storeys in height, supporting 
a heavy, parapeted cornice; while upon the south side was 
the plainer, stuccoed Palazzo degli Studi, of 1763, containing 
the city library, its Archivico Storico Gonzaga (or collection 
of Gonzaga state papers and family documents, of great in- 
terest and importance to the historical student) and the 
Mus£o CivicOj — or collection of ancient sculptures. 

Entering the latter edifice, I inspected the library, — a 
fine large two-storied hall on the piano nobile, surrounded 
by the customary wooden galleries overhead; but putting off 
to a later date my examination of its contents, I proceeded 
to the Museo, which proved to be located in another long 
hall upon the same floor. It was a gallery lighted by win- 
dows along the west side, filled with sculptures ranged un- 
brokenly around the walls, and others extending in an im- 
pressive row down the middle ; their remarkable number and 
clever arrangement, and the beauty of many of the pieces, 
made a surprising and beautiful effect. It was indeed as- 
tonishing to find so many antique marbles, even in Mantua, 
considering the thoroughness with which the great Gonzaga 
collections were dispersed; practically all of these, however, 
came from the ducal palaces, — especially that of Sabbioneta 
— saved from the wreck in one way and another. To look 
upon this splendid hall, and reflect that it represented but a 
small portion of the antiques that once adorned the Reggia 
and the Te, would be sufficient to open any one's eyes to the 
artistic glories of that princely house. 

So many of the pieces were surprisingly good, of the higher 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 455 

periods of Greece and Rome, that I cannot even enumerate the 
best. There were altars round and square, cut with charm- 
ing reliefs, sarcophagi elaborately carved, delightful vases and 
urns, splendid reliefs detached from tombs, sarcophagi, etc., 
statues whole and mutilated, and portrait-busts without num- 
ber, displaying the well known features of emperors and 
classic poets. The statues betrayed the customary piecing 
together of broken parts, which occasionally resulted in a 
head ill suiting a body, but on the whole they were of a most 
pleasing excellence, — representing gods and goddesses, 
nymphs and satyrs, warriors and Roman ladies. But the 
most beautiful work of all lay in the reliefs, the majority of 
which were in fair condition. Especially remarkable among 
them were the Pluto and Proserpine enthroned, with Cer- 
berus and Mercury (71), the feasting Bacchus with two 
nymphs and two satyrs (158), the fight over the body of 
Patroclus (186), the rape of Europa (259) and the Diana 
and Endymion (171). 

Many of the busts were unusually powerful in expression 
and individuality; especially fine were the Antoninus Pius 
(27), the degenerate Domitian (38), the sorrowful Matilda 
Augusta (46^, the speaking Agrippina (54), the masterful 
Tiberius (62) and the bestial Caracalla (302). A head of 
Faustina (25) is alleged to be the very one which Mantegna 
so long cherished, but sold to Isabella six weeks before his 
death when hard pressed for money through his illness; but 
it cannot be the same, — it is too commonplace and expres- 
sionless, " too poor to have received the enthusiasm of so ex- 
quisite a connoisseur of Roman sculpture as Mantegna." ® 
In a small, partly detached, front room I found the so-called 
Seat of Virgil, — a fine ancient marble chair with a high 
curved back, and winged lions for the fore legs. Near it 

« Maud Cruttwell's " Life of Andrea Mantegna," . • 



456 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

were piled ten lovely classic consoles, from some Roman build- 
ing; and the floor was heaped with fragments of antique 
statuary, — arms, legs, feet, hands, etc., looking like a surgery 
after a battle. 

On another day I visited the Museo Patrio, located upon 
the ground floor in the western part of the Accademia palace. 
Here were collected sculptures executed in the mediaeval and 
Gonzaga periods, a number of which proved of much interest. 
In the third room was another early statue of Virgil (1242) 
posed in the same queer position as that upon the Broletto, 
and surrounded by several quaint mediaeval reliefs; here was 
a beautiful quattrocento relief, of four genii holding the 
Gonzaga arms, with the heads of Lodovico III and his wife 
Barbara on the right, their son Federigo and his wife Mar- 
gherita of Bavaria on the left. Besides being exquisitely 
done, this was historically interesting: because when the 
Bavarian envoy arrived at Mantua in 1462, with his " at- 
tendants all clad in coarse, red clothes of ugly shape, with 
bad manners and rude habits," Federigo fled to Naples to 
escape the union; the match 'nevertheless was plighted; and 
the good Marchesa searched everjrwhere for her errant son, 
until " Federigo, who was discovered living in a destitute 
condition under an assumed name, was prevailed upon to re- 
turn and marry Margaret, — and she made a good wife and 
mother." ^ 

In this same room I saw the curious red-marble sarcopha- 
gus of Archbishop Ruffino Landi (1378), adorned with 
crude sculptures; also five half-pedestals of the cinquecento, 
with charming arabesque reliefs. In the fourth room I ob- 
served an excellent quattrocento mantel, and a bust of Virgil 
with a badly restored nose, which stood in the Piazza delle 
Erbe for centuries. The fifth was a chamber of unusual 

"' Julia Cartwright's " Isabella d'Este." 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 457 

terracotta relics: among them a fine bust of Gianfrancesco 
III, Isabella's husband, in a handsomely decorated cuirass; 
two remarkable small reliefs of the Crucifixion, — one of 
them In the manner of Mantegna, of wonderful modelling, 
expressiveness and feeling; three lifelike busts of Virgil, 
Spagnuoli (the Carmelite poet) and Gianfrancesco again; 
two striking little reliefs of Roman scenes, — a procession, 
and an emperor before German chiefs; and a fine portrait- 
figure of Dante, reading in a library. There followed two 
large rooms of prehistoric objects and skeletons, from the ages 
of stone and bronze, besides a few Etruscan vases. 

Upstairs I was shown, in the Accademia collection, a suite 
of rooms containing old paintings, coins, die-stamps, etchings, 
etc., but few of them of Importance. The third chamber 
held a good copy of the design of Mantegna's great Madonna 
della Vittoria, now in the Louvre; It was painted to com- 
memorate the heroism of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga and his 
kinsmen at the battle of Taro (or Fornovo), upon the anni- 
versary of which it was for many years afterward taken from 
Its shrine and borne in procession through the streets. In 
the main hall were a number of Interesting works, amongst 
many of little worth; here was the solitary remaining relic 
of Rubens' stay, — a huge canvas now cut in half, and in 
bad preservation, depicting a couple of the Gonzaga princes 
with their wives, kneeling before the Trinity; the latter 
represented as the Father and the Son seated, with the Dove 
of the Holy Ghost hovering above, — all apparently painted 
upon a large cloth held by 5 or 6 angels over the heads of 
the worshippers. The deep, rich tone and colouring, the 
golden light and finish, all showed the Influence of the Italian 
schools then dominant In the young master's mind ; as did also 
the repose and restraint. 

Here were two portraits of charming Gonzaga women 



458 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

(17, 18), a fine though colourless Byzantine Madonna of the 
13th century (5), a Madonna with Sts. Joseph, Catherine 
and others, from the school of Pavia — a delightful picture, 
of exceeding tenderness and beauty (10), a Flagellation by 
Lor. Costa, well moulded and deep in chiaroscuro, but not 
very pleasing (12), an anonymous picture of the Christ, with 
a noble head, falling under the Cross in a cinquecento street 
(13) and a weeping Christ in the same position, by Fran. 
Monsignori (18). Several pieces were outputs of Manteg- 
na's school, demonstrating his success as a teacher: a Ma- 
donna and devotee, mostly destroyed, but with a most lovely 
Child (9), three spirited uncoloured figures of Fortune, 
Merit and Virtue, clearly showing Andrea's guiding hand 
(20) and a Madonna with four saints by Andrea's pupil, An- 
tonio da Pavia, faithfully reflecting his habits of drawing 
(11). Here, finally, was the well-known Beata Osanna 
(16) by Fran. Bonsignori of Verona, — who was called here 
by Gianfrancesco to decorate his villa of Marmirolo. This 
celebrated Dominican nun, Osanna dei Andreasi, a kins- 
woman of the Gonzaghi, was widely adored during her later 
years for her goodness and beneficence, being popularly " sup- 
posed to have received the stigmata, and to be endowed with 
prophetic gifts. — Isabella was deeply attached to the Beata 
Osanna, to whom she turned in all her troubles, and after her 
death in 1505 raised a splendid tomb over her ashes. — In the 
portrait — Isabella is said to be introduced, kneeling with 
three of her ladies " at the holy woman's feet. 

Mr. Berenson places a work of Caroto of Verona in this 
collection, — a fresco of the Madonna with a donor, dated 
15 14. — On the first floor I was farther shown the local 
Museo del Risorgimento, containing the usual assortment 
of relics of that eventful period. After looking it over I 
returned to Piazza Broletto, and kept on westward, along 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 459 

the Via Cavour, which leads just under the Torre della 
Gabbia, from before the entrance-arch to Piazza Sordello. 
On the left I soon passed one of those impressive brick build- 
ings of the Renaissance which demonstrate how very little 
we Anglo-Saxons know of the proper uses of that material; 
it was a handsome, three-storied palazzo, with ground-floor 
windows framed in radiating rustica, a projecting central 
pavilion adorned with pilasters, and fine cornices to the upper 
windows and the eaves; — all in brick, of the best renais- 
sance lines and effectiveness. Beyond, on the same side, 
came another interesting all-brick edifice, a lofty church of 
rococo design, whose extraordinary facade curved inward 
from angle to angle ; and here a short turn to the right 
brought me to the amazingly vast Piazza Virgiliana. 

This enormous open space, shaped like a colossal theatre, 
extends southwestward from the Lago di Mezzo, halfway 
between the two bridges, — some 400 metres in depth and 
250 in breadth. Around it curve two long parallel rows of 
varied trees, shading a driving path and a gravelled prom- 
enade, which are separated by a green hedge from the huge 
grassy field within, used for public sports and army exer- 
cises. Insignificant stuccoed dwellings line the surrounding 
streets, with the exception of one large palace on the west, 
crowned by statues. In the northern centre of the field 
rises the solitary edifice of the modern Teatro Virgil, shaped 
like an amphitheatre, with apsidal ends; its curving southern 
front is a two-storied arcade of yellowish stucco, rusticated 
below and adorned with half-columns between the upper 
arches; through these one sees the enclosed fore-court, backed 
by the lofty gable of the auditorium^. Not far behind it 
stretches the muddy lake-shore, whose monotonous vista is 
varied only upon those few days when the atmosphere is 
exceptionally clear; and then, far away to the north, one 



46o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

sees the jagged outlines of the mighty Alps, with their snow- 
peaks glittering against the blue. 

I followed the shore northwestward for nearly half a 
mile, to the Ponte dei Molini; and, it being near the sunset 
hour, walked slowly across the ancient structure, gazing over 
the far reaches of water to right and left, and stopping at 
the twelve old mills to inspect their ponderous, simple wheels, 
and the quaint statue of an Apostle that watched over each. 
The modern railway bridge accompanied me on the left. 
At the farther end I reached the hamlet of S. Antonio, or 
Limone, as it is sometimes called from its extensive culture 
of that fruit; and here I saw the old northern citadel of 
Mantua, guarding the approach to the bridge, with its stout 
ramifying walls and bastions sunk deeply in the earth ; — 
a fortress once formidable, still impressive, and in Austrian 
days a terrifying political dungeon. " It was here that, in 
1810, Andreas Hofer, the Tyrolean patriot, was arrested 
by order of Napoleon. A boat conveyed him to the prison 
of Peschiera, and he was soon afterward shot in the citadel 
of Mantua." « 

Immediately to north of Albergo Sennoner, on the east 
side of the Via Magistrate, rises the Palazzo Municipale, 
whose quiet, Palladian fagade I passed every day; it consists 
of a high, rusticated basement, of stone arches built in with 
stucco — except the entrance-way, — and a loftier piano no- 

8 Robert A. MacLeod's " On the Rhine and Other Pictures." — (For 
the near-by, ruined Palazzo delta Favorita, see next chapter.) — 
Hofer's place of concealment had been betrayed through a large 
reward set upon his head. — Bearing "a crucifix, wreathed in 
flowers, in his hand, he walked to the place of execution. — He re- 
fused to kneel, or to have his eyes bandaged, but stood without 
flinching to receive the fire of his executioners." (Miss R. H. 
Busk: The Valleys of Tirolo.) The spot is marked by a simple 
marble monument, fenced in amidst a bower of greenery. 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 461 

bile^ adorned with large ionic half-columns and corniced 
windows with heavy balconies, surmounted by a well pro- 
portioned cornkione. A little south of the inn the street 
widens into the long Piazza Garibaldi, holding a statue of 
the hero in its centre. The central part I found to be noth- 
ing more than a wide bridge across a little stream flowing 
from the western lake to the eastern: it was the so-called 
Rio, the original moat of the marsh-city, in far-off days 
when it was but half the present size. From the parapet 
of the piazza I saw the stream dashing along some 25 feet 
below, darkly confined between the backs of basements; 
westward, there projected at intervals along its southern 
side small stone colonnades, aged and crumbling, sustaining 
the rear portions of dwellings and shady arbours verdant 
with trailing vines and potted plants, — a most picturesque 
vista; eastward, there extended along the same side a long 
colonnade of fine stone shafts with brick arches, upholding 
a broad, modern promenade. Ultimately the Rio empties 
into a great enclosed basin, the Darsena, or Porta Catena, 
connected by a narrow strait with the Lago Inferiore; this 
was the ancient protected harbour, or ship-basin, where the 
city's extensive water-commerce could be locked against all 
enemies; but the quays that once resounded with activity are 
now decaying in silence. 

After glancing at the baroque statue of a Pope, rising from 
the western parapet, — seated, rather, with a cherub standing 
beside him, — I kept on southward, down the right-hand 
street of the two diverging from the piazza (Via Giovanni 
Chiassi) and soon reached the large church of S. Maurizio 
on its western side. It had a frightful rococo fagade of yel- 
lowish brown stucco, undulating in and out ; its interior was 
an imposing, domed rotunda, with a lofty nave on one side 
and chapels on the others. Three chapels also opened from 



462 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

each side of the nave. The first on the left held in its walls 
many memorial stones of past martial heroes, — a relic of 
Napoleonic days, when the French commandants started to 
make of this edifice a sort of military Pantheon; and prom- 
inent among these inscriptions was one of exceeding interest. 
— " Johannes Medices Hie Situs Est " : it was the famous 
Giovanni delle Bande Nere, of the younger line of the 
Medici, who if he had lived 5 years longer would perhaps 
have been the first Duke of Florence; but he was mortally 
wounded in a battle against the Imperialists near Governolo 
in December, 1526, was carried to Mantua, and died a few 
days later in the church of S. Domenico (now suppressed) 
whence this tablet was removed from his tomb. In con- 
sequence his son Cosimo became the first Florentine duke; 
and his descendants ruled over Tuscany until 1859, inter- 
mingling with most of the royal families of Europe. There 
is hardly a sovereign today who cannot count this condot- 
tiere among his ancestors. 

The pala of this chapel was a S. Bartolomeo painted by 
Boccaccio Boccaccino II, the nephew of the great master. 
The adjacent chapel held the elaborate marble monument 
of Luigi Gonzaga, the founder of the dynasty, with a fair 
altar-painting by Lor. Garbieri, a pupil of the Caracci ; and 
the second and third chapels on the opposite side contained 
good examples of Lodovico Caracci. 

Some four blocks farther south, at the angle of Via 
Carlo Poma, rises the great church of S. Barbara, facing 
westward, — another splendidly proportioned, baroque edi- 
fice, with an ugly fagade. It was erected by Bertani, and 
filled with paintings of the late Renaissance; but two are 
noteworthy, — the huge Multiplication of the Loaves and 
Fishes, by one of the lesser Costas, over the main entrance, 
and the Decapitation of S. Barbara by Brusasorci, in the 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 463 

choir. Of the tomb of GIulio Romano, who was burled 
here, all trace has been lost. Turning westward on the 
Via Poma, I quickly reached the house of Giulio Romano, — 
on its left side beyond S. Barbara, — the residence which 
he himself built and adorned, and occupied for years pre- 
ceding his death. It has a charming stuccoed fagade, of a 
most delicate and pleasing colour-scheme : the rusticated base- 
ment is of a light-brown tint; the first floor contains grey 
relieved arches of radiating rustica, holding daintily moulded 
window-frames of a lighter grey, over whose masked pedi- 
ments the lunettes are coloured in imitation of purple-veined 
marble; while the beautiful frieze and cornice — the former 
composed of circles, festoons and rams' heads — are again 
of the light brown hue. The string-course forms a gable 
over the round-arched doorway, above which, in the central 
upper arch, is a niche containing an ancient Greek statue of 
Mercurj', exceedingly lovely. The interior, unfortunately, 
has suffered despoliation of all the adornments inserted by 
Giulio ; the facade also became dilapidated, but was carefully 
restored in i8(X). 

Immediately beyond this building the broad street was 
dignified by the imposing Palazzo di Giustizia, towering 
massively upon its southern side, — the same palace which 
Giulio erected at Federigo's order for his inamorata, Isa- 
bella Boschetti, but which has of late years been adapted for 
the use of the courts. Its chief feature is the series of 12 
colossal Hermes upon the upper parts of the large pilasters 
running the height of the two upper storeys, — their fearful, 
bearded heads posed as if in support of the heavy ionic capi- 
tals. So aggressive is their uncouth, ferocious ugliness, — 
the aged, toothless faces sneering through straggling locks 
of ragged hair and ends of liberty-cap strings — that they 
are really fascinating, and would surely torment the dreams 



464 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of any child. The whole stuccoed front Is of a peculiar 
deep brown shade, excepting the marble window-frames and 
balconies. The ponderously corniced windows of the rusti- 
cated basement are adorned with beautiful, curving, wrought- 
iron gratings; those of the piano nobile are crowned with 
pediments alternately rounded and peaked, and those of the 
third storey are square and simple. The very heavy cornice 
juts out above each pilaster, and the massive top parapet 
protrudes with corresponding pillars. These are the begin- 
nings of the rococo; and the interior Is similarly formed on 
grandiose, decadent lines, which overreach themselves In the 
efforts to be Impressive. The great halls and staircases, and 
some of the smaller rooms, are decorated with corresponding 
frescoes by the pupils of Bertanl. 

A few blocks to the south upon the next street, Via 
Principe Amadeo, — and most easily seen upon the way to 
the Palazzo Te, — stands the abandoned, ruinous church of 
S. Sebastiano, which Alberti designed In 1462. The Interior 
Is stripped and unsafe to enter. On the exterior naught 
remains of Its once celebrated beauty except a fairylike por- 
tico on its left side, adorned with two rows of slender 
marble columns, 14 In number; from this one enters to right 
its strange, enclosed vestibule running across the front, lighted 
by a row of 5 windows, alternately arched and oblong; and 
here its original main doorway can still be seen, charmingly 
decorated In marble. 

Another Interesting walk which I took, was that west- 
ward upon the Corso Vltt. Emanuele. Over the Rio it, 
too, broadened Into a spacious piazza, on whose eastern side 
rose the handsome, classic building of the Teatro Sociale, 
with a portico projecting on 6 huge ionic columns, and with 
statues in niches flanking the main portal. Adjacent, at 
the angle of Via Grazioll, stood a pleasing Renaissance 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 465 

palace, with rusticated basement and stone windows; and 
immediately to the west, on the Corso's northern side, came 
another striking renaissance structure, occupied by the Banca 
Agricoldj — its second-storey windows adorned with pilasters 
at the angles, and those of the third storey being double- 
arched, on slender triple columns. Thence the avenue con- 
tinued, broad and majestic, between fair buildings of even 
height, prominent among which was the large and graceful 
renaissance fagade of the Ospedale Civile. At the end rose 
the old brick gateway of the Porta Pradella; on traversing 
which I found a modern public garden set out upon the 
ground once covered by the wide city moat and the protect- 
ing swamps, — embellished with shrubbery and flowerbeds 
amongst the clumps of young trees; while the higher bastion 
of the old fortifications, that guarded the gate upon the 
lake-shore, no longer frowned with cannon, but looked 
smilingly across the long blue expanse of the Lago Superiore, 
sleeping in its rustic frame. The city wall of Brunelleschi's 
designing still remained intact, and swept away to the south- 
east with its grim, recurrent lunettes, along the top of its 
artificial ridge. — Some distance farther out here is the field 
of Belfiore, with its monument to the heroes of the Risorgi- 
mento who perished there. — 

The massive brick walls of the city, faced by their ex- 
traordinary fosse of 50 to 60 yards' breadth, — whose deep 
depression still lingers, though long drained of water, — were 
of renowned strength in Renaissance days; as Mrs. Oliphant 
said, in speaking of Brunelleschi, — " The fortifications 
which he built at Mantua and Pisa were of such a character 
as to justify the complimentary assertion, that if " every state 
had a man like Filippo, they might consider themselves safe 
without arms." ^ I thought of those earlier walls, of the 

» Mrs. Oliphant's " Makers of Florence." 



466 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

smaller, mediaeval city, which rose along the inner side of 
the Rio and consisted only of wooden palisades; yet even 
they were so unassailable, that when Emperor Henry IV 
attacked them during his siege of more than a year 
(1090-91) he could not take Mantua except by purchasing 
treachery within. Of course he had no explosive artillery, 
and the walls were approachable only by certain narrow 
causeways, guarded by high towers. 

I found several other churches which are worthy of a visit 
by one who makes a long stay, distinguished each by one 
or more valuable paintings: S. Maria della Carita holds a 
fine example of Caroto — St. Michael with Sts. John, Cosmas 
and Damiano, — and a Martyrdom of S. Biagio by Brusa- 
sorci; S. Egidio has a portrait of the Beata Osanna by one 
of the lesser Costa's, and a Madonna with saints by Ben. 
Pagni, — besides a beautiful piece of quattrocento silk em- 
broidery done with gold thread ; S. Leonardo, which was the 
ancient Duomo and family church of the Gonzaghi, and 
where is still celebrated every August 1 6th the festival of 
their exaltation to princely state, — has a fine old campanile 
of 1 155, a fresco of the Saviour with four prophets by Lor. 
Costa, and a lovely Madonna with saints by Fran. Francia; 
S. Apollonia contains two pictures by Luigi Costa, — a fres- 
coed Marriage of St. Catherine in Giulio's style (perhaps 
indeed his work) and a beautiful Madonna with S. Marta 
by Dosso Dossi, — some critics say by Bern. Luini, but I 
think not; and the church of the Ognissanti holds an inter- 
esting fresco in the oratory attached to its sacristy, represent- 
ing the Madonna enthroned, with many saints and angels, by 
that rare old master of Verona, — Stefano da Zevio (dated 

1463). 

It was the day after my walk out to the walls, however, 
that I commenced my inspection of the palace-city of the 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 467 

Gonzaghi, — even in its ruined state one of the wonders of 
the world; and although I kept steadily at the delightful 
task, nearly a week had elapsed before the completion of 
the primary examination, without any doubling on my tracks ; 
— which may suffice to give some idea of its size. Further 
visits were thereafter paid at intervals, to review ihe portions 
of most importance. The Reggia of course can be walked 
through rapidly in a day, — leaving the bewildered sight- 
seer in an utter daze, a chaos of endless impressions. But 
to attempt now the practically impossible, and give in words 
any conception of the vast place, it is necessary first to 
roughly outline its general plan. 

As before mentioned, it forms on the whole an equi- 
lateral triangle, with its head to the north, and its sides 
running respectively southwest and southeast.^^ I will treat 
now only of the northern half of it, — the palace proper. Its 
western side consists of the two old Buonacolsi palaces facing 
Piazza Sordello, the hanging garden, and the market occu- 
pying the site of the court-theatre, — which last, bending 
slightly eastward from the line of the palace-fronts, reaches 
to the western tower of the Castello. The eastern side 
consists of the Castello, its wing of the Trojan Cycle, — often 
called Palazzo S. Sebastiano — and the huge Cavallerizza. 
The bottom of this northern triangle, connecting the Buona- 
colsi palaces with the Cavallerizza, is formed of three more 
structures, running from the inner side of the two palaces 
eastwardly to the southern corner of the tourney-yard (Caval- 
lerizza) ; these are the buildings of the Appartamenti Ducali 
(which I will call, for distinguishment, the Corte Vec- 
chio), that containing the Paradiso of Isabella (or Palazzo 

i^The eastern side runs more nearly south, in reality; but we 
will call it southeast, for the purposes of easier description with re- 
gard to the points of the compass. 



468 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Belvidere), and that of the AppartamentI Stivall. The large 
open space in the centre of the Reggia, also triangular in 
shape, was filled by Duke Guglielmo from 1560 to 15 80, by 
erecting in its eastern portion the church of S. Barbara, 
facing southwest, and by occupying its remaining portion 
with a huge square cloister, arcaded on all sides, — the so- 
called Piazza or Prato del Castello, — which thus filled in 
the gap between the church, the Castello, the theatre and 
the hanging garden. Above the arcade on its southeastern 
side runs a long, covered corridor, leading directly from the 
Corte Vecchio to the staircase of Giulio Romano (uniting 
the Castello with Pal. S. Sebastiano) and giving a private 
access, as it passes, into the left side of the church; by this 
route the city's rulers could take their seats unobserved in 
their private gallery above the choir; and it afforded easy 
communication between the distant parts of the Reggia. 

To deal somewhat more minutely, as Is necessary, with 
the bottom line of the triangle above indicated: the southern 
Buonacolsl palazzo, which projects beyond the line, is a long, 
shallow edifice with a depth of two rooms only ; the northern 
is a square structure of twice that depth, built around the little 
court of S. Croce ; behind this eastward extends the still larger, 
rectangular building of the Corte Vecchio, surrounding the 
spacious Cortlle d'Onore (Court of Honour) ; behind this 
again is Its extension containing the Paradlso (the Palazzo 
Belvidere), a U-shaped structure with Its opening to the 
south, — said opening being called the Piazza Paradlso ; and 
from the northeastern corner of the last stretches eastward 
the long, low, narrow edifice containing the AppartamentI 
Stivall, to the southern end of the Cavallerlzza, — this being 
the final addition of the Gonzaghi to their beloved Reggia^ 
constructed by Duke Guglielmo about 1562. The Corte 
Vecchio was added to the Buonacolsl edifice by one of the 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 469 

earlier Gonzaghi; the Belvldere building was erected by 
Lodovico II, and till the end of Isabella's epoch received 
the name amongst the family of the *' Casa Nuova." An- 
other garden, once of celebrated beauty, lies in the angle be- 
tween the Stivali and the side of the Paradiso, overlooked 
by Isabella's rooms in the latter, — the spacious Giardino del 
Padiglione, bounded by an arcade on the east and the sta- 
bles on the south. 

South of the Corte Vecchio and Paradiso extends the vast 
Piazza della Lega Lombarda, — or, as it was formerly called, 
the Piazza del Pallone; and beyond it on the south and east 
stretches the enormous congeries of buildings which were 
devoted of old to the great Gonzaga stables and kennels — 
with their many hundreds of choice horses and hounds, — the 
general kitchens, laundries, and other domestic establishments, 
as well as the dwelling quarters for the innumerable servitors 
of all lines. In other words, this southern half of the 
greater triangle, separated from the northern — the palace 
proper — by the Piazza del Pallone and the Giardino del 
Padiglione, was the domestic portion of the Reggia; its 
western front, toward the Piazza Sordello, being closed by 
the buildings containing the many clerical offices of the state 
departments. That front is now in use by the officials of 
the city and province, and the rest of the southern buildings 
are occupied as barracks by the large garrison of Mantua; 
where Gianfrancesco III was wont to exhibit to visitors with 
pride his splendid breed of prize-taking Barbary horses, now 
rest the simple chargers of the troops of cavalry. All this 
portion is today severed completely from the Reggia proper, 
which remains an uninhabited memorial of past grandeur 
and art. 

Its entrance I found to lie, as of old, under the front 
arcade in Piazza Sordello, between the two palazzi Buona- 



470 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

colsi: a simple hallway now, with an office on Its right 
where visitors are awaited by the uniformed governmental 
guides. The hall runs back through the Corte Vecchio, by 
the south side of its Court of Honour; but before that the 
great stairsvay turns off to the left ; and up this I was led, to 
visit first the upper floors of the Buonacolsi edifices. This 
was the portion of the Reggia which received the renovating 
attentions of the Austrians under Maria Theresa and her son, 
and which was occupied by their governors and by Prince 
Eugene Beauharnais. — Right here I must do credit to the 
guides of the Reggia^ by saying that never have I found men 
in their position so uniformly courteous; their information, 
however, is not always to be relied upon. 

At the head of the winding staircase one is first ushered 
into the large Sala dei Duchi, overlooking Piazza Pallone, 
on the southern side of the northern palace, — entirely in 
white save for the painted frieze, retouched under the French 
dominion, consisting of the portrait-heads of all the i8 reign- 
ing princes of Gonzaga, from Luigi I to Ferdinando Carlo.^^ 
Neither in this, nor in a single chamber of the whole Reggia, 
except the Appartamento dell'Imperatrice used by Princess 
Beauharnais, and one or two other rooms, is there any fur- 
niture remaining. — From this one enters the series of large 
chambers along the rear side of the southern palace. The 
first, the Sala delle Caryatidi, was repainted by the Aus- 
trians with huge Egyptian figures in grisaille^ upholding a 
fancied entablature, interspersed with representations of Vir- 
gil, Dante, Apollo, Homer, and the nine Muses, upon an 
orange ground. There follow, proceeding south, the four 

11 In this very chamber Francesco IV, as a result of the machina- 
tions of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, judged and condemned his innocent 
wife and secretary, in February, 1391; the sentence of decapitation 
was executed in the room directly below. 




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MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 471 

large Appartamenti d'l Guastalla^'^ redecorated under the last 
of the Gonzaghl, since fallen to ruin, and now undergoing 
repair ; the first has a painted oak ceiling, and a frieze of imi- 
tation-marble with openings in which vases apparently stand 
against the sky, and with consoles supported by cherubs 
astride of dolphins, — all charming seicento work ; "the second 
has a similar ceiling, with gilt pendants, and a seicento frieze 
showing many of the Gonzaga emblems and mottoes, while 
its walls hold fragmentary, early quattrocento frescoes re- 
cently discovered beneath the whitewash, including the traces 
of a large quaint Adoration of the Magi, and two beautiful 
figures of a princess and a sainted knight; the third is dis- 
tinguished by a grisaille frieze of designs and putti; and the 
fourth has another fine oak ceiling, painted in imitation of 
tarsia, with the Gonzaga emblem of the sun in every panel. 

From the last I entered the southernmost front room, 
which exhibits remains of later frescoing in the shape of 
fanciful designs, eagles and sphinxes, and a family-portrait 
frieze displaying Gonzaga princes, princesses, monks, etc. 
Then, through a little oratory constructed under the Em- 
pire, I traversed the long front gallery, which was for a 
couple of centuries past divided into small rooms. Directly 
above all this, as I found on again mounting the stairs, the 
second floor of the southern palace was entirely devoted, from 
earliest days, to a single spacious hall called the Armoria. 
because in it the Gonzaghi kept their famous collection of 
armour and weapons, — that collection which was the hobby 
of Isabella's husband, and which has since been scattered far 
and wide. This hall, 68 metres by 15, was the place where 
Pope Pius II in 1459 held his great Council to inaugurate 
a crusade against the Turks (which was soon after cut short 

12 Socalled from the Duchess Anna Isabella of Guastalla, spouse 
of the last duke, who dwelt here. 



472 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

by his death) ; and we see it represented in Pinturrichio*s 
portrayal of that gatTiering in the library of the Cathedral 
of Siena, amongst his magnificent series of frescoes upon the 
life of Pius IL^^ Of all the famed decorations with which 
the salon was then resplendent, naught now remains; but a 
single frescoed fragment of the later decorations of Vincenzo 
I lingers on the northern wall, — the arms of the knightly 
Order of the Redeemer which he instituted, upheld by genii, 
and flanked by two noble warriors. 

Returning to the piano nobihy we next traversed the Ap- 
partamento delV Imperatrice , consisting of four chambers 
running across the front of the northern palace, and several 
smaller rooms in rear ; they were redecorated under the Aus- 
trians for the accommodation of their Empress, and are 
still adorned with some of the hangings and furniture of Em- 
pire style remaining from Prince Eugene's occupation. 
Amongst them I saw the four-posted, gold and white bed in 
which his Princess gave birth to her child in March, 1814. 
Surmounting its gilded dome were a cherub and the Na- 
poleonic eagle; its frieze consisted of beautiful gilt reliefs, 
and it was yet shrouded in its exquisite blue silk curtains. 
At the end we entered the large hall of the Refettorio, or 
Sala dei Fiumi, extending from the fagade far back, along 

13 « Hill-Towns of Italy," pp. 278-80.—" It was through Barbara's 
(Lodovico H's wife) suggestion to her uncle, the Margrave Al- 
bert of Brandenburg, that the Pope was induced to summon the 
meeting at Mantua. Princes and ambassadors arrived from all 
parts of Italy and Germany. Pius II and his cardinals, Francesco 
Sforza, Duke of Milan, Albert of Brandenburg, and Duke Sigismund 
of Austria, were among the guests who were entertained in the 
Castello." (Julia Cartwright.)— What a picture must that gather- 
ing have presented in the grand old frescoed hall, — with all its 
pomp of prelates and princes, all its glory of arras and banners, 
and gay-hued silken vestments ! 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 473 

the southern side of the hanging garden; its vaulted ceiling 
and walls were all painted in an extraordinary manner, simu- 
lating an immense vine-spread arbour, with grottoes at the 
ends in niches of artificial rocks, and the six river-gods of 
Mantuan territory frescoed in openings at the sides. The 
last were a work of Giorgio Anselmi, in 1775; about which 
time the whole scheme was executed. In the centre of the 
vaulting were seen various divinities and the Hours, before a 
temple; and in the southern wall opened a handsome marble 
doorway, finely wrought, topped by a good bust of a Moor. 
Another ornament was a rich mosaic table of coloured mar- 
bles, porphyry, jasper, verde antique, etc. 

The adjacent hanging garden, called the Nuovo Giardino 
Pensile, proved to be a large square plot, whose shrubs, flow- 
erbeds and nespoli trees were still kept in fair condition; 
pleasing colonnades of coupled marble shafts enclosed it upon 
three sides, and in the middle of the northern side rose a 
pretty octagonal tempietto, a sort of summer-house, with a 
basement of precious marbles and a double dome of terra- 
cotta work. The corridors were lavishly frescoed with de- 
signs and arabesques, on walls and vaulting, — retouched in 
1773. At the northeastern corner a winding staircase de- 
scended to the contiguous arcade of the Piazza del Castello, 
forming in Gonzaga days a convenient access to the castle. 
Upon the eastern side opened an extension of the greenery, — 
the small octagonal Giardino degli Or si, shaped like a well, 
whose name indicates that it was once used as a bear-pit. 
This whole charming cloister was constructed by Bertani 
under Duke Guglielmo. 

From the eastern end of the Refettorio we stepped into the 
northernmost of the series of six rooms running across the 
rear of the Buonacolsi palace, and looking upon the Cortile 
d'Onore: this was the Sala dello Zodiaco, a square chamber 



474 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

whose vaulting was painted by Lor. Costa junior, about 1580, 
with the twelve figures of the Zodiac in brown upon a dark 
blue sky, — the constellations being marked upon them with 
gilt stars. Over the midnight heaven presides Diana in her 
chariot. The work was poorly restored about 1750. Above 
the doorways I noticed four rectangular panels of stucco re- 
liefs painted a bronze hue, inserted about the same time in the 
place of Costa's damaged frieze; they represented mytho- 
logical personages and scenes. Also of the Empire were the 
several panels of gilded stucco arabesques running up each 
wall. 

The following four rooms constitute an apartment known 
as the Verde J or dell'lmperatore , or degli Arazzi; the last 
name coming from the famous cinquecento tapestries depict- 
ing the Acts of the Apostles, after Raphael's cartoons, which 
belonged to S. Barbara until about 1783, when they were 
removed here to aid in the scheme of redecoration ; in 1866 
they were removed again, to Austria, and now adorn the 
private apartments of Emperor Francis Joseph at Schoen- 
brunn. Their places are partly taken now by painted imi- 
tations of arras, fairly well done by Felice Campi of Mantua, 
upon canvas, portraying various scenes from the Sacred 
Story;. — such as the Nativity and the Presentation, in the 
2nd room, the Transfiguration (after Raphael) in the 3d, 
and the Massacre of the Innocents, in the 4th. All the ceil- 
ings are handsomely coffered in wood, with variously shaped 
panels, painted m with designs on white; and above all the 
doors are delightful stucco reliefs, uncoloured. The first 
chamber is further interesting for a small, low bed, canopied 
with green silk falling from a gilded dome, which was used 
by Napoleon during his campaign of 1796, and again as Em- 
peror, in 1805; in the mosaic floor one sees a large wreath 
which held formerly a bronze imperial crown, and in the 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 475 

lunettes of the walls, two excellent frescoes of the later 
Renaissance, depicting Roman sacrifices. 

The last chamber of the six in this row Is the Sala dei 
Papi, adjoining on the east the Sala del DuchI where I 
started : like It, a bare, white room, adorned formerly with a 
frieze displaying portraits of the Popes, which now has van- * 
ished. From It I turned to the left into a long gallery of 
the Corte Vecchio, extending along the southern side of the 
Court of Honour, — the modern Pinacoteca. Its walls were 
covered with paintings collected from the suppressed convents 
and dismantled churches, and brought from the other parts of 
the Reggidj — mostly of little worth, because the best were 
seized for the Brera gallery of Milan. By Palma Glovane 
were four large canvases depicting the Four Ages of the 
world; and, said to be by one of the Costa (although a copy 
of Glullo's fresco in the Te) was a pretty Psyche awakening 
Cupid. Those of most worth, however, were by unknown 
hands: the fine group of Sts. Paul, John and Sebastian, sur- 
mounted by a charming angel ; the two bishops from a wooden 
ancona of the trecento; the excellent panel of the Madonna 
enthroned between Sts. Vincenzo, Giovanni Battlsta and oth- 
ers, — which formerly served as the high-altar-plece in the 
church of S. Vincenzo; the large canvas of Perseus carrying 
the Medusa's head ; and, finally, the excellent Ascension hung 
just above the Psyche. 

Eight marbles also adorned the gallery, — six Indifferent 
statues of mythological divinities between the windows on 
the left, and two Interesting busts in the right-hand corners ; 
the first was by Bernini, a remarkably fine work, portraying 
the handsome Duchessa Maria Gonzaga, In the monastic 
veil which she assumed in 1643; and the second was by his 
noted pupil, Lor. Ottone, — showing an older princess, with 
a formidable nose and fiery eye, evidently a speaking like- 



476 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ness of the unknown original. The rooms upon the right 
of the gallery, exactly over the Grotta of Isabella below, con- 
stituted formerly the Appartamento delVAlcova, of whose 
beauty naught now remains ; but recently they have been used 
for an attempted reconstruction (begun and never finished) 
of the decorations saved from the wreck of the Palazzlna, — 
the beautiful woodwork, frescoes, and stucchi that were the 
cause of the fame of its Gabinetto della Paleologa, which 
Duke Federigo II constructed for his bride under Giulio's 
designing. 

From the end of the gallery we stepped into the enormous, 
square Sala degli Arcieri, at the southeast corner of the Corte 
Vecchio, — the first hall of the renowned Appartamento 
Ducale, stretching across Its eastern side and looking upon 
the Piazza Paradlso. Duke Guglielmo began the decoration 
of this suite, and VlanI completed It for Vincenzo I. The 
Hall of the Archers received its name from the ducal body- 
guard of archers here stationed. Its walls are now frescoed 
in grisaille with an architectural scheme of the time of the 
Empire; 22 huge consoles extend around the cornice, upheld 
by female busts; but the lofty, vaulted ceiling is ruined, — 
removed but for the skeleton of its ribs, because it threatened 
to fall to pieces. In the northern wall open two doors, — 
the second leading to the remaining rooms of the ducal apart- 
ment, the first leading to the spacious Sala degli Specchi, 
extending northward along the eastern side of the Court of 
Honour. The latter, by the way, is a large grass-grown 
square, with a dainty marble tempietto in its centre, which 
was transferred from the ruined church of S. Sebastlano; 
in Gonzaga days the close was kept up as a private garden. 

Entering the Sala degli Specchi (Hall of the Mirrors) I 
was greeted by a great surprise: for here was a magnificent 
ballroom still radiant in all its original beauties of painting 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 477 

and gilded stucco, still fresh and smiling, hung with a dozen 
sparkling, cut-glass chandeliers, and with its numerous white 
seats for the spectators of the dancing still placed around its 
brilliant walls, upon the glassy mosaic floor; all looking, in 
fact, as if Duk^Vincenzo might have given a ball here only 
the night before. The long vaulting was lavishly covered, 
from end to end, and cornice to cornice, by a vast assemblage 
of frescoes still of refulgent colour; they were done about 
1580 by Lor. Costa, junior, Ruboni and Andreasi, but were of 
course retouched in Austrian days. Down the centre ex- 
tended three immense panels, successively, — Apollo driving 
his chariot of the sun, the gods in Olympus, and Diana in 
her chariot of the night; the best of which was the Apollo, 
whose four splendid white horses gallop over the rolling clouds 
with a beauty and a naturalness of motion quite exceptional. 
Costa is generally believed to have been its author, though 
some critics now impute it to Sebastiano del Vino. The 
figure of the goddess Venus is also much admired. 

The two large lunettes at the gallery's ends are filled with 
immense tableaux of Apollo in Parnassus, wooed by the nine 
Muses, and an assemblage of divinities representing the arts 
and sciences; under the former are portraits of Virgil, Sor- 
dello, Castiglione, Spagnuoli, and other Mantuans who dis- 
tinguished themselves in letters. The seven lunettes above 
the cornice on the west side are decorated with mythological 
personages, — those on the east wall representing the car- 
dinal virtues; the triangular spaces above them, on the first 
curve of the vaulting, are filled with fanciful designs ; and the 
spandrels between them, curving likewise forward, contain 
separate divinities in grisaille. 1'he frieze in grisaille is es- 
pecially pleasing, consisting of gambolling putti connected by 
garlands, on a golden ground. The walls, originally cov- 
ered with yellow damask, are now adorned with mirrors 



478 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

framed between panels of foliated reliefs in gilded stucco, 
of 1779, and separated by handsome corinthian pilasters with 
gilded caps. On the end walls stand four lifesize painted 
figures, both realistic and graceful, said to represent the four 
elements ; the one portraying Water — or, ^ some say, Inno- 
cence — is of special merit. 

The door in the end of this splendid hall opens into the 
long, narrow Corrtdoio det Morij extending along the north- 
ern side of the Court of Honour, to the Sala dello Zodiaco. 
Its lavish decorations of the later cinquecento consist of ara- 
besques, putti, and other figures and designs, both in fresco 
and stucco, covering the upper parts of the walls and the 
vaulting. From it two doorways open to the north: one 
opposite the Sala degli Specchi, admitting to a stairway 
which descends to the great corridor leading to the Castello; 
the other, near the western end, admitting one to a suite of 
three rooms there located, adjacent to the Sala dello Zodiaco. 
The middle one of these rooms is the Saletta dei Mori, which 
gave the corridor its name; I found it a small, square cham- 
ber looking north over the Giardino degli Orsi, whose frieze, 
cornice and flat ceiling were one mass of the most beautiful 
gilded, open-work wood-carving, of the richest and most 
graceful foliated designs. Nothing more splendid for its 
size could be conceived, and nothing more significant of the 
quondam glories of the Reg^gia. It was done in the seicento, 
by unknown hands. At intervals through the foliage of the 
frieze appear the small half-figures of negroes, and negro 
faces are scattered through that of the ceiling. The centre 
of the ceiling is an exquisite large medallion, painted in oil 
with the nude figure of Venus escorted by divers cherubs, 
flying in a sky of fleecy clouds, — the putti charming, and the 
goddess a voluptuous form of considerable loveliness. — The 
room on the east of this is also distinguished by Its ceiling, 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 479 

of the same period, finely frescoed with raphaelesques and 
amorini. 

Returning to the Sala degli Arcieri, we now traversed 
the eight chambers of the Appartamenti Ducalij — three large 
and square, looking east upon Piazza Paradiso, and five 
smaller ones at their end, running to the east in the Paradiso 
building. The three large chambers were remarkable for 
their magnificent wooden ceilings: the first and third were 
superbly cofEered in oak, with delicate, foliated, gilt reliefs 
upon the beams and their rounded intersections, and with the 
white grounds of the panels decorated by handsome gilt foli- 
ations; the second was an intagliated labyrinth, of gilded 
ridges and blue lanes, the latter all engraved with the motto 
of Isabella, " Forse che si, forse che no," ^* — which was here 
most appropriate. The first room contained also four paint- 
ings by Pietro Menghi, depicting the story of Judith, placed 
as a frieze between richly carved cornices painted blue and 
gold, with repeated emblems of the Gonzaga sun. 

Of the following smaller rooms, the first four looked 
northward over the forecourt, or Piazza, of S. Barbara, and 
the fifth southward into Piazza Paradiso. I entered first 
a little bathroom with a pretty diamond-coffered ceiling of 
gilded stucco; a similar ceiling succeeded, with its panels 
daintily adorned by gold reliefs on a blue field ; and a third, 
covering a charming little toilet-room, was of beautifully 
carved and gilded wood. Otherwise these camerini were des- 
titute. From the last one on the north side, a rising stairway 
of 13 steps of red marble led me, still eastward, to the ante- 
rooms of the Paradiso itself. The vaulting of this staircase 

1* " Perhaps yes, perhaps no." — This labyrinth is said to be a 
memorial of the safe issue of Vincenzo I from the siege of Turk- 
ish Canissa, in i6oi, where he successfully brought out his command 
from a maze of disorder and dangers. 



48o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

gave the first hint of the beauties to follow : its different bays, 
diversified in form, were profusely decorated with coloured 
stucchi and frescoed raphaelesques, of a most delicate charac- 
ter. The doorway at the top was once a fine piece of cinque- 
cento work, painted with oriental designs, but is now prac- 
tically ruined. I thought with some emotion, as I mounted, 
of all that throng of the great men of the Renaissance — 
artists, poets, musicians, connoisseurs — who treaded these 
same steps to reach the secluded shrine of their adored high- 
priestess. 

The two anterooms, looking northward to S. Barbara, are 
now called the Stanze delle Citta, from the views of notable 
cities with which they were adorned when Vincenzo I had 
them reconstructed; before which time, it is believed, their 
place was occupied by the vanished Loggia delle Citta which 
Isabella made. The city views, I found, were frescoed in the 
lunettes around both rooms, where they were not long ago 
recovered from whitewash; they supposedly represent such 
places as Rome, Jerusalem, Algiers, Toledo, London, Constan- 
tinople, etc. On the spandrels between them were painted 
various Gonzaga emblems and devices, and certain of those 
of the Medici, — for the sake of Vincenzo's wife, Eleonora 
def Medici. The ceilings were decorated with delicate 
stucco-work, and unimportant paintings empanelled in the 
centre. The rooms were small and low, and — as I observed 
from the windows — located upon the third story. Beyond 
them, m the very northeastern corner of the building (the 
" Casa Nuova " of Lodovico's time) appeared the square 
Stanza dei Quattro Elementi^ — so called from its four anony- 
mous, ill-painted representations of the elements upon the 
ceiling, of the 17th or i8th century. The framework of 
these, however, was adorned with charming stucchi and ara- 
besques of the cinquecento; and especially noteworthy here 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 481 

were the festoons of fruit bound to hideous masks by 
ribbons. 

The doorway at the right conducted me to the first of the 
three rooms of the Paradiso proper, extending southward 
along the building's eastern wing, with windows opening 
upon each side: those on the right looked into Piazza Para- 
diso; from those on the left I gazed eastward at that view 
which so delighted Isabella, and originated the apartment's 
name. Directly below lay the spacious, square Giardino del 
Padiglionej framed by other buildings on either hand and a 
stately colonnade at the farther end; the first of the stables 
extending on the right, the low A ppartamenti Stivali extend- 
ing along the left, — over which appeared the grand arcades 
of the Cavallerizza. Beyond stretched afar the peaceful 
waters of the lake, embosomed in its emerald banks cov- 
ered luxuriantly with copses of trees; the long Ponte S. 
Giorgio crossing on the left to its terminal guard-tower, and 
the Lago di Mezzo curving away to the north. It was easy 
to see how much the rural, restful beauty of this scene ap- 
pealed to the Marchesa's court-harassed mind. 

So small were the rooms, that but a single, ordinary-sized 
window looked lakeward from each. The first two of them 
were Isabella's own sanctuary, which she decorated herself, — 
the real Gabinetti del Paradiso; all of them preserved their 
original, exquisite, wooden ceilings, supported on consoles, 
or deprived of angles in the Empire style and curving 
forward from the cornice to the central, rectangular panel. 
That of the primary chamber, the " Camera di Musica," was 
especially tasteful and characteristic : the broad concave frieze 
uniting cornice to panel was relieved with an infinitude of 
minute foliations, amongst which appeared at regular inter- 
vals shallow, rectangular coffers, engraved with other de- 
signs and certain of Isabella's mottoes and devices. These 



482 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

emblems, which she spent so much pains and learning in 
adopting, and spread through all the apartments occupied by 
her, are of much historical interest, connected with the vicis- 
situdes of her eventful life that gave rise to them, one by one. 
Here were her famous " Nee spe, nee metu," the Roman 
numeral XXVII, the liturgie candelabrum of Holy Week, 
the monogram of the three letters U. T. S., the bunch of 
twigs bound with a ribbon, the Alpha and Omega, the open 
pack of playing cards, the monogram YS, etc. All have 
their historical significance: the XXVII, for instance, indi- 
cates " vinte le settef — that the Marehesa had " conquered 
the factions," and emerged triumphant over all foes. A full 
volume or two could be written on their derivations and 
meaning ; as the learned Equicola did in his treatise upon the 
** Nee spe, nee metu." 

The large central panel of this first ceiling is tessellated 
by ribbon-like bands, with pendant rosettes at their intersec- 
tions, and each square is carved with a different maze of 
foliated reliefs; the middle one is engraved with the words, 
"Isabella — Esten — Mar. — M." (Isabella Estense, Mar- 
chioness of Mantua.) The beauty and richness of it is in- 
creased by the gilding of all the relief-work, and the blue 
colour of its ground. The oak wainscoting of the room, 
fully six feet high, is another remarkable relic, though greatly 
damaged by the low class of tenants during the Austrian re- 
gime: it contains a series of panels nearly 3 feet square, which 
were filled with fine tarsia by Antonio and Paolo della Mola. 
A half dozen still remain, probably not in their original 
places, — three of them representing fantastic paysages, the 
other three, musical instruments of various kinds; they con- 
ceal cupboards used by Isabella for keeping her own instru- 
ments. Above the wainscoting, in the space about three feet 
wide beneath the cornice, once occupied by her glorious can- 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 483 

vases of Mantegna and other great masters, extend now a 
series of unimportant and dilapidated later paintings. The 
mosaic pavement of her time has also given way to an ordinary 
tiled floor. 

But the most brilliant feature here, which strikes the eye 
£rst upon entering, is the splendid doorway to the following 
room, which Gian Cristoforo Romano sculptured for the 
Grotta, and Isabella removed here after 1520. (He came to 
Mantua in 1497, fresh from his wonderful work upon the 
Certosa, and served the Marchesa for a number of years.) 
It is a rectangular portal with a classic cornice, about 8 
feet high, the side-posts and lintel inset with regularly spaced 
panels of porphyry and coloured marbles; between these, on 
each post, were inserted three most exquisite medallions of 
bronze and Carrara marble. The four marble ones still re- 
main, though \r\ bad condition: each is carved with a single 
beautiful figure, — Apollo with his lyre, the armed Minerva, 
and a couple of the Muses. Six smaller medallions adorn 
the inside of the jambs, depicting a monkey, a peacock, differ- 
ent birds, etc. Injured as it is, this doorway is a worthy 
monument to that great sculptor. The subjects of its re- 
liefs, one notices, chimed exactly with the former mythological 
paintings stretching roundabout the Grotta, all executed in 
accordance with the scheme of Isabella. 

Traversing it to the second room, I saw a refulgent, all- 
gilt ceiling supported on consoles, coffered with alternate 
circles and octagons, over every inch of whose surface ran 
the same wealth of minute relieved tracery. The original 
paintings that extended below it were gone, but their lovely 
framework remained, — charming gilded columns, reaching 
from the top cornice to that of the wainscoting, cut with de»- 
lightful, delicate reliefs of putti, nymphs, and arabesque pat- 
terns. The modern canvases now inserted are used to con- 



484 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ceal the gaping cupboards behind. The panels below were 
filled once with handsome pieces of arras, long vanished. 
Both the fine doorways are of Carrara marble, inlaid with 
bits of porphyry and serpentine, that on the south being 
probably a work of Tullio Lombardo, about 1523. Above 
it is an inscription, — " Carolus Primus — Dux," etc. — show- 
ing that the decorations were renewed by Charles de Nevers, 
about 1630-37. 

The ceiling of the third cabinet is coffered in hexagons, 
supported on consoles, and entirely gilded. Here I saw four 
long fragments of the frieze of Lor. Costa, painted on can- 
vas, that formerly adorned the Hall of the Zodiac; they de- 
picted amorinij dogs, and arabesques, in a curious but well- 
executed manner. Here also were more of Isabella's de- 
vices, — including the famous musical notes of the Estensi, 
and her name and title, — painted on the middle panels of 
the ceiling. There followed a chamber not belonging to the 
Paradiso, called simply lo Stazone: it had an exceptionally 
fine vaulting of the 17th century, of pine and black walnut 
decorations intermixed, — probably a relic of the period of 
Charles de Nevers. The light and dark variations in shade 
of the rich traceries and foliations, were most effective. Be- 
yond this the wing contained half a dozen more rooms, but 
they were entirely bare and dismantled. 

All of these doubtless belonged to Isabella's suite, for she 
had 17 rooms together in this portion of the palace; but it 
was the three rooms of the Paradiso that she loved, and spent 
her declining years in. The Grotta, with its wonderful 
art-collections, was her public drawing-room, where she re- 
ceived ambassadors and strangers of distinction ; the Paradiso 
was her private nest, where she retired to rest among her 
intimate friends, surrounded by her most beloved books, 
musical instruments, and treasures. " The first room was 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 485 

dedicated to music. — The cupboards were filled with instru- 
ments: mandolins, lutes, citherns, inlaid with mother-of- 
pearl, and made especially for her by Lorenzo of Pavia; here 
stood the famous organ by the same master. — Round the 
walls were views of towns in intarsia of rare woods, — and 
along the cornices friezes were formed of musical instruments 
carved in the wood. In the second room, devoted to paint- 
ing and also to study, six masterpieces by the greatest painters 
of the time adorned the walls. The third room was reserved 
for receptions. — In the recess of the thick wall Isabella placed 
her writing-table, within reach of the shelves containing her 
favourite books; while she wrote those letters addressed to 
the poets and artists of Italy, overflowing with enthusiasm 
for art and letters." ^^ We must realise her also surrounded 
by a quantity of her favourite art-treasures, — her " antique 
bronzes, figures of alabaster and jasper, cabinets of porphyry 
and lapislazuli, Murano glass of delicate tints and rare work- 
manship, precious vases — and crystal mirrors set in rubies, 
diamonds and pearls." Amongst these and other treasures, 
of letters and the arts, she talked with her famous friends 
as only a woman of the Renaissance could talk, when " all 
virtues, all crimes, all forces were set in motion by a feverish 
yearning for immaterial pleasures, beauty, power, and im- 
mortality," ^* and conversation was in itself an art, and the 
highest of the graces. 

The visitor to the Reggia must next proceed to the palace 
of S. Sebastiano, which is reached by the covered corridor 
before mentioned. This corridor one enters by the steps from 
the Corridoio dei Mori ; and a short walk brings him, past the 
church on the right, to the head of Giulio's marble stair- 
case from the Castello, whose heavy, rich coffering is painted 

15 Charles Yriarte (Supra). 

16 Gregorovius's " Lucretia Borgia." 



486 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

within the panels in imitation of tarsia. Here a door on the 
right admits one directly to the rearmost hall of S. Sebastiano, 
— the magnificent Sala di Manto. These Appartamenti di 
Troia were constructed by Gianfrancesco III and Federigo 
II between i486 and 1540, with the aid of Mantegna, Giulio, 
Primaticcio, Leonbruno, Rinaldo Mantovani, Fermo Gui- 
soni, and ar number of Giulio's other pupils. Here were then 
located the head-offices of the state departments and the Coun- 
cil of Ministers, besides the public chambers of the Duke. 

The Sala di MantOj so-called from its practically vanished 
frescoes which depicted the story of the sorceress, was the 
ducal throne-room, for the giving of formal audiences: a su- 
perbly proportioned hall, fully the size of the Sala degli Spec- 
chi (about 80x33 feet), and far loftier and more imposing. 
Even in its ruined state it is impressive. Around the walls 
at mid-height — but still some twenty feet or more above the 
pavement — runs a beautiful stucco cornice, with a delightful 
frieze of relieved arabesques, from which pilasters rise to the 
top cornice, richly decorated with reliefs; between the latter 
are large panels for the destroyed frescoes and small panels 
for the windows, under and over which extends more charm- 
ing relievo. The unapproachable beauty of the stucco-work 
through all these apartments may be realised, when we reflect 
that it was designed, and mostly moulded, by the great Pri- 
maticcio himself; it is ruinous, but still unequalled. The 
wooden ceiling here is very grandly coffered, but most of its 
long pendant rosettes are vanished, — beaten down to serve 
as fuel by the barbaric Austrian soldiers, who were quartered 
in this palace during 150 years. The thought of such wan- 
ton demolition of irreplaceable treasures is maddening. But 
one can picture the hall as it formerly shone, with its " pro- 
fusion of statues, busts, gilt furniture, crystals, arms, candel- 
abra and damask hangings," — a glorious setting for the 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 487 

solemn receptions of foreign ambassadors, and of the nobility 
and clergy of the realm. 

Succeeding on the east came the grand Sala di Giuramento, 
or dei Capitani: the former name derived from one of the 
four huge paintings that covered the upper walls, representing 
Luigl Gonzaga receiving the people's oath of fidelity on Aug. 
26, 1328 (restored in 1873), — the latter name derived 
from the four busts of the chief Gonzaga captains surmount- 
ing the string-course. These busts were posed over the four 
doorways, near the angles, flanked by lifesize male figures 
seated guardingly beside them, with pendant limbs, — a 
unique and most effective design. All were of v/hite stucco. 
The other three paintings, now destroyed, doubtless repre- 
sented other important events in Gonzaga annals. The splen- 
did wooden roof was in good condition, the beams that made 
its deep, broad coffering being gilded on the edges and painted 
with handsome arabesques, while the heavy gilt pendants re- 
mained intact. 

The third chamber, in the northeast corner of the building, 
was the magnificent Sala dei Marchesi: so-called from the 
eight busts of Gonzaga princes and princesses, posed before 
roundels on the mid-cornice, two on each side near the angles ; 
they were flanked by heroic statues of the Virtues, rising from 
ornate corbels almost to the ceiling. The pure white of these 
fine plaster sculptures contrasted agreeably with the rich 
gilding of the lavishly decorated cornices and ceiling ; the lat- 
ter being again superbly coffered, with deeply recessed octa- 
gons and florid rosettes, while four remarkable festoons, fully 
two feet in diameter, enclosed the central, octagonal painting. 
A number of the statues, and one of the busts — that of Isa- 
bella d'Este — were now missing. To right opened the Log- 
gia, looking upon the lake through the fine triple archway 
with red marble columns which I had noticed from without; 



488 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

from this the Gonzaghi were accustomed to show their visitors 
the celebrated view, — grand indeed when the air was clear 
enough to discern the snowy Alps. The decorations here 
were of no importance; but directly behind, facing the inner 
Cortile del Card, were the delightful Gabinetti dt Primaticcio. 
On these two little rooms that master poured out the beauties 
of his fertile imagination.^^ Their cornices and vaulting are 
a fairy world of happy fancies, connected by richest festoons 
of coloured fruits and flowers, with many white panels of 
idyllic scenes filled with charming figures, and other figures 
and musical instruments relieved upon the consoles, — the 
white I'elievo being marked against a formerly azure ground. 
The first chamber, the Camera di Apollo, has on its vaulting 
also an Involved representation In stucco of that deity " sur- 
rounded by joyous nymphs, fauns, singers and musicians.'* 

The Cortile del Cani was the original hanging garden, de- 
riving Its name from the odd use made of It by Isabella and 
her husband, to bury a number of their deceased pet dogs; 
for their tombstones even Glulio was called upon for designs. 
One of their mortuary Inscriptions yet lingers on the wall, 
amidst the empty mosaic niches and traces of frescoes. To- 
day the garden Is fallen to earth from Its former height, 
which was equal with the surrounding apartments. Beyond 
this and the Loggia, along the southern side of the palace, 
extend three rooms now entirely desolate; from the rearmost 
the open so-called Loggia of Giulio stretches southward to 
the adjacent northeast angle of the Cavallerlzza. But we 
returned to the Sala di Manto, and entered the suite of seven 

17 The learned Mantuan authority. Signer A. Patricolo, insists 
that these were decorated after Primaticcio departed for France, 
most probably by his disciples, Nicola da Milano, the dei Conti, and 
others; but to me it seems apparent that no hand but the master's 
was capable of such exquisite fancies and perfect execution. 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 489 

rooms extending south from it, behind the Cortile and the last- 
mentioned loggia; these were the Appartimenti di Troia 
proper. 

The first was the large Sala del Trionfoj looking west 
upon the apse of the church: so called because it contained, 
as is generally believed, the 7 great canvases of Mantegna's 
Triumph of Csesar; and in w^itness, the 7 huge panels that 
held them extend around the hall above the string-course, 3 
on the longer east side, 2 upon each end. The dividing 
pilasters are beautifully relieved, and the roof exhibits the 
usual elaborate gilt coffering. Between this and the Cortile, 
looking upon the latter, stretch three little rooms that were 
delightfully decorated with stucchi and raphaelesques by 
Giulio, — done with an excess of dainty imagination, a clever- 
ness of execution, and a charm of colour and design that 
have been rarely equalled. The northernmost is the gem of 
the Reggia. The southernmost opens into another small, 
square chamber, looking upon the Loggia of Giulio, — the 
Sala degli Undid Imperatori: in this were kept Titian's fa- 
mous portrait-heads of the Caesars (he never finished the 
twelfth) in three square niches on each side but the eastern, 
where there were two beside the window. These panels, be- 
neath the cornice, but over six feet from the floor, were framed 
in finely relieved mouldings, and separated by little rounded 
niches for ancient statuettes or oblong compositions of ra- 
phaelesques and stucchi. The vaulting was one huge fresco 
by Giulio, of which there remain but a handsome head of 
Diana, and other fragments. 

Adjacent to the Sala del Trionfo on the south, and, like it, 
looking west upon the church, lies the medium-sized Sala di 
Giove, or dei Capitani di Ventura. The first name came 
from its ceiling-painting, which depicts Jupiter in the heavens 
with his thunderbolts in hand, and a cupid and an eagle at 



490 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

his feet: a work probably of Rinaldo Montovani, after 
Giulio's cartoon. The second name came from the I2 busts 
of condottieri placed around the upper walls upon corbels, 
before circular niches, separated by handsome pilasters ; origi- 
nally of bronze, by // Lombardi_, they were replaced after the 
sack by these plaster copies. From this chamber I entered, 
finally, the Sala di Troia itself, — a spacious room looking 
upon the Loggia of Giulio. Emerging from the ruinous 
apartments just traversed, its world of brilliant colour, glow- 
ing from every wall and the whole wide vaulting, its score 
of splendid tableaux animated with dramatic life, its hundreds 
of lifelike figures glistening in gay-hued vestments and mar- 
tial armour, — struck me with a joyous, dazzling effect that 
was vastly enhanced by the contrast. 

It was the Iliad reproduced by Giulio in fresco: overhead 
I saw the deities of Olympus, with mighty Jove holding in 
his arms the form of Venus, fainting from the defeat of her 
beloved Trojans; roundabout the lower vaulting, just above 
the cornice, stretched the famous cycle of critical scenes from 
the war, undivided and running into each other like the 
component parts of one huge battle. Here Diomedes is 
slaying Astinous, Xanthe and others; here, having thrown 
down i^neas and lifted a heavy rock to kill him, Diomedes 
is stopped by Mars and Apollo, who have hastened to aid 
Venus in saving her hero; here Ideus is saved from the same 
warrior by Vulcan, and the Greek then hurls Pandarus from 
his chariot ; there we see the conflict over the body of Patro- 
clus, and the succeeding final struggle in which the Trojans 
are victors. The arrangement of all these scenes, the group- 
ing and dramatic posturing, are worthy of the highest praise. 
The individual figures and their expressions, too, must in 
the beginning have been of a high order, judging from the 
reports come down to us; but unfortunately that same re- 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 491 

painting of the Austrian period, which makes the colours so 
bright today, destroyed the expressions and the naturalness 
of the faces, and even the just proportions and tactile values 
of the forms. 

Under the cornice other large tableaux extend around the 
v/alls, — incidents connected with the war : we see the Judg- 
ment of Paris, the Rape of Helen, Laocoon and his sons, and 
the Wooden Horse; and in smaller proportions, the Dream 
of Andromache, Ajax struck by lightning, Thetis requesting 
the armour of Vulcan, and handing it to Achilles. These 
pictures also, though still most decorative, still finely com- 
posed and admirable in many points, were spoiled by the same 
" restoring " brush. It is as a spectacle, a decorative scheme, 
that we must now consider the hall ; since we can accredit to 
Giulio only the glory of the splendid composition. This was 
worthily complemented in Gonzaga days by many of their 
most precious furnishings, — of ebony and crystal, rare mar- 
bles and inlaid armour, delicate vases and glassware, gold and 
silver plate, and ornaments flashing with jewels of every kind. 
From this chamber alone the Imperialists of 1630 took an in- 
estimable fortune. 

Adjacent to this shrine of neo-classic painting succeeds, 
most appropriately, the superb Sala dei Marmi, or Hall of 
Ancient Marbles, which must have been the most thoroughly 
classic, and most purely magnificent, of all the chambers of 
the Reggta. Nearly the size of the Sala degli Specchi, it 
lies upon the south of the Sala di Troia, stretching across the 
northern end of the Cavallerizza, — a part therefore of the 
latter building. Its fine proportions, its pure, harmonious 
lines, and refined, delightful decorations, form the strongest 
witness to Giulio's taste and genius, and constitute to my 
mind one of his noblest monuments. Along the northern 
wall, opposite the six windows looking into the tourney-yard. 



492 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

extend a series of exquisitely framed niches, divided by pilas- 
ters painted with arabesques, in which were posed the chief 
statues of the Gonzaga collection. The plastic adornment 
of these round-arched frames is surpassingly lovely; two of 
them, next the ends, hold doorways in place of niches, topped 
by roundels for busts, and pretty frescoed bacchantes on gold. 
Other busts formerly were perched upon dainty consoles pro- 
jecting from the row of pilasters at two-thirds height, forming 
portions of a continuous, richly moulded cornice that crosses 
the shoulders of the arches. Over their tops runs the princi- 
pal, heavier cornice, of graceful design. Similar pilasters 
separate the windows, between two of which, in the middle, 
stands a subsidiary niche. At each end opens an apsidal re- 
cess, holding a doorway flanked by smaller niches; beside 
which, in the upper angles of the wall, between the two cor- 
nices, were placed lifesize stucco divinities arranged in 
couples, — but two now remaining ; and similar figures re- 
clined in the spandrels of the window-frames. 

One of the most pleasing things about these stately walls 
is their soft grey, dove-like colour, which certainly harmon- 
ised most happily with the gleaming white of the marbles. 
This is not disturbed by the gentle hues of the delicate ara- 
besques that adorn the pilasters and the flat panels of the 
niche-frames, and cover the long rounded vaulting from end 
to end. The ground-shade of the vaulting is the same soft 
grey; it is divided into immense bays by decorative ribs, each 
bay being centered by a medallion of winsome, frolicking putti 
on azure, with lunettes of the same cresting the cornice; the 
slopes hold charming panels of stuccoed white figures on a 
black ground, well preserved; smaller, frescoed panels are 
freely spaced over the remainder of the slopes, and the whole 
grey ground is a mass of minute arabesques. 

Three statues of no importance had been reinserted in the 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 493 

northern wall, when I saw it, to give in part the original 
effect; but that throng of ancient sculptures which glorified 
this hall, is scattered far and wide through the museums of 
Europe. Some of them, we know not which, I had beheld 
in the Museo Civico; but enough of the latter collection 
should by all means be placed here, to revivify this magnificent 
gallery, so fortunately preserved. Giulio's designs here, ac- 
cording to Sig. Patricolo, were not carried out by himself, 
but by the same pupils who built for him the Palazzo Te, — 
Scultori, Luca da Faenza, Fermo da Caravaggio, II Recanati, 
and Rinaldo Mantovano. 

What better than these precincts can recall for us that won- 
derful period of man's new mental birth, when every thought 
of his restored culture was thus devoted to the Beautiful. 
Here indeed can we realise the truth of Symonds' summary: 
" The speech of the Italians at that epoch, their social habits, 
their ideal of manners, their standard of morality, the esti- 
mate they formed of men, were alike conditioned and qualified 
by art. It was an age of splendid ceremonies and magnificent 
parade, when the furniture of houses, the armour of soldiers, 
the dress of citizens, the pomp of war, and the pageantry of 
festival were invariably and inevitably beautiful. On the 
meanest article of domestic utility — a wealth of artistic in- 
vention was lavished by innumerable craftsmen no less skilled 
in technical details than distinguished by rare taste." ^^ As 
Gregorovius well said, " The Renaissance has been called an 
intellectual bacchanalia." 

Piero Soranzo, of the suite of the Venetian ambassadors 
who came to Mantua in November, 15 15, has given us a 
glimpse of Gianfrancesco III in the midst of these sumptuous 
halls. Through the innumerable rooms and corridors they 
were conducted to " the palace of S. Sebastiano, and admired 

18 J. A. Symonds' " Fine Arts." 



494 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the magnificent series of Triumphs painted by Mantegna. 
After this they were ushered Into another suite of apartments, 
where the same odour of rich perfumes met them on the 
threshold. Here they found the Marquis reclining on a couch 
by the hearth of a richly adorned room, with his pet dwarf 
clad In gold brocade, and three superb greyhounds lying at his 
feet. Three pages stood by, waving large fans, lest even a 
hair should fall upon him ; a quantity of falcons and hawks 
In leash were In the room, and the walls were hung with 
pictures of favourite dogs and horses. Francesco received 
the envoys graciously, and gave orders that they should be 
shown the other halls of the palace, containing Costa's re- 
cently painted frescoes, etc. The beauty and extent of the 
gardens and the magnificent view from the Loggia greatly 
Impressed the visitors, as well as the gorgeous dinner-service 
of wrought silver." ^^ 

The door in this hall's eastern end admitted us to the Log- 
gia of Glullo Romano, which looks upon the lake through four 
great arches. The ground In front was formerly a luxuriant 
garden reaching to the water's edge; under the Austrlans 
It became a fort, and now is a grass-grown space used for a 
tir aux pigeons. The four bays of the vaulting are dec- 
orated with arabesques, and In the lunettes are dilapidated 
frescoes of putti and medallions, Including a pair of genii 
holding the arms of Vincenzo I, quartered with those of 
his Medicean consort. The painting otherwise was of 
Gugllelmo's time ; and the structure was a work of Giullo's, 
to connect the palace with the long, covered corridor leading 
to the Appartamenti Stivali, which lie beyond the Caval- 
lerizza. 

This corridor, which we next entered, runs along the lake- 

1® Julia Cartwright (Supra). 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 495 

side of the tourney-yard, in the second storey of the latter's 
arcade; it is open on each hand, with alternate arches and 
square windows, corresponding to the same design below. 
Toward the water the fagade of this double arcade is plain; 
toward the yard it is adorned similarly to the other sides 
of the huge rectangle, — of which I was now offered a com- 
plete view. The long plot where knights once tilted, where 
the cinquecento dukes set their brilliant martial spectacles, 
was today but a grassy, forgotten quadrangle in which 
washed linen was hanging to dry; the ground storey of the 
surrounding arcades was mostly built up within its arches, 
framed in radiating rustica; the second storey remained 
open, — its alternating arches and square apertures, set in 
similar heavy rustica, being divided by ponderous, twisted, 
fluted half-columns, rising from corbels to the doric frieze; 
over the latter ran a high, panelled parapet. It was all 
stucco-work, but painted a natural stone-colour, to which 
the deep rustica and bulky columns added a further sense of 
ponderosity. Along the ends there were arches only, inset 
with the rectangular window-frames of the Sala dei Marmi 
and the Appartamenti Stivali; in the upper storey of the 
western side, both the arches and square openings were like- 
wise turned into windows, for the lighting of the great Mos- 
tra Gallery, which lies there. 

The double-arcade upon the east side, with its corridor, 
was erected sometime after the rest of the structure; the 
lake itself was at first the boundary here, and the end-walls 
reached down to it. This enabled the Gonzaghi to add 
water-displays and naval battles to their grandiose spectacles, 
in the manner of the Romans; and we read that Federigo 
offered such an entertainment to Charles V, during his event- 
ful stay in 1530. Upon such occasions large wooden tribunes 



496 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

and stands were put up around the walls, and awnings drawn 
over them from the parapets of the roof, — whose fastenings 
piay still be seen. 

At the end af the corridor I entered the Appartamenti 
Stivall, — a shortening of estivali, and meaning therefore the 
summer apartments, since they were built open to the tourney- 
yard, the Glardino del Padlgllone and the lake, for the 
zephyrs of the latter to play freely through; to this secluded 
corner of the Reggia the later dukes retired In hot weather, 
as Isolated as if they were In a country villa. BertanI put 
up the building, about 1562, under Gugllelmo's orders. 
Four chambers look upon the Cavallerlzza, of which the 
westernmost only conserves any remnants of the original dec- 
orations, the others having been desolated by the savage 
tenants that occupied them under the Austrian regime. 
South of these extends a long room called the Loggia dei 
Frutti, because Its eastern end looked upon the lake through 
a triple archway and balcony and Its stucco ornamentation 
was largely of fruits. It was the central and principal cham- 
ber of the apartments; and its scheme of decoration, still well 
preserved, Is one of the loveliest things In all the Reggia. 
The cornice and the beams of the coffered celling are ex- 
quisitely relieved with festoons and straight garlands com- 
posed of fruits, leaves and vegetables, wrought deceivingly 
of stucco and painted In natural hues; and the alternate 
large and narrow panels are frescoed with charming though 
faded scenes, from the legend of Manto and Tiresias, and 
Individual figures of much grace. 

On the south again of this, at the building's southeastern 
angle, lies a room but slightly smaller, divided by a triple, 
columned archway; through all these apartments the ceilings 
are low, and the embellishments confined to appropriate 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 497 

rural subjects, with an eye to the charming rather than the 
magnificent, giving the whole place an intimate, homelike 
air. In the last mentioned chamber its cinquecento stucchi 
and frescoes are mostly covered over by later painting and 
whitewash; but behind it I came to the delightful Camera 
del Pesce, looking southward upon the Giardino del Padigli- 
one: above its frieze of festoons stretches a row of 14 large 
sea-shells, moulded like that of the clam, with bunches of 
fruit inside their grooves; the heavy beams of the vaulted 
roof, intersecting obliquely, form triangles over the shells, 
and are quaintly but prettily relieved on their faces by con- 
tinuous strings of fish, of much variation and realism ; while 
the coffers are painted with other fishes, ducks, and many 
species of aquatic life. 

There followed, continuing west, the pleasing little Cam- 
era della Gemma, appropriately named, for it is indeed a gem 
of delicate ornamentation: square panels of reliefs extend 
above the rich, arabesqued frieze, and the small polygonal 
compartments of the sumptuous ceiling are formed by the 
most delicately modelled ridges, — although their frescoes, 
and that of the large central panel, have mouldered away. 
From this I entered to right the southernmost of the four 
rooms looking upon the tourney-yard, which exhibited still 
another beautiful ceiling of luxurious stucco mouldings, with 
coffers of stucchi and arabesques. A little hallway lay on 
its west; and from this I stepped to right into the vast GaU 
leria della Mostra, stretching along the western side of the 
Cavallerizza, — the largest and one of the grandest of the 
halls of the Reggia, 215 feet long by 22 in width. 

Here was gathered and set up by Dukes Guglielmo and 
Vincenzo I, in surroundings of the utmost magnificence, the 
celebrated Gonzaga Museum of natural history, — in its 



498 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

time one of the half-dozen greatest in the world ; ^^ hence 
the name of Mosira, or display. The countless objects were 
exposed in cases set along the west wall, well lighted by the 
continuous openings of the eastern. We see today the hand- 
some pilasters dividing the recesses in which the cases stood, 
and the panels above them that held the marvellous row of 
canvases by the greatest masters, — including Mantegna, 
Costa, Palma, Tiziano, Correggio and Guercino; and above 
these we observe the oval niches, flanked by smaller ones, in 
which were posed the long rows of antique statues and busts of 
the Roman Emperors, — the same busts, in part, that rest now 
in the Museo Civico. The wooden roof of Giulio's designing 
was splendidly coffered and gilded, but now is mostly fallen. 
The eastern arches, which before the reconstruction of Fran- 
cesco II were entirely open, and thus gave free admission to 
the seats placed for tourneys, are now built up except for 
oblong apertures in ornate baroque frames, topped each by 
three successive niches, for other busts. The end-walls are 
beautifully decorated in stucco-work, with portals framed 
by Corinthian half-columns, and capped by pediments. — ^There 
is talk, which I sincerely hope will be carried out, of trans- 
porting to this hall and its neighbour, the Sola del Marmi, 
the art-collections of the Accademia and Museo Civico. Such 
an extraordinary opportunity to give, for once at least, an 
ideal and historic setting to a museum of ancient sculptures, 
should not be neglected. 

Returning to the hallway at the southern end, we pro- 
ceeded again westward along the northern side of the Giar- 
dino del Padiglione, through the final four chambers of the 
Appartamenti Stivali, called the Stanze della Metamorfosi: 
their ceilings, except that of the last room, which was used 

20 See description of it in Carlo d'Arco's " Dell' Arte e degli 
Artefici di Mantova." 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 499 

by the recent tenants as a kitchen, are remarkably preserved, 
and exquisitely decorated with stucchi and painting. The 
first two depict scenes from Ovid (whence the name) and 
the third contains several charming idyllic tableaux in oil ; all 
of which are declared to be works of the seicento, under 
Vincenzo and his three sons. From the late kitchen, directly 
beneath the northeast angle of the Paradiso building, and 
therefore under Isabella's suite, I stepped into the Padiglione 
garden; and from its turf was afforded a clear view of the 
fine eastern fagade of that building, erected in the best early 
Renaissance style by Lodovico II. The pavilion from which 
the garden derived Its name, an extension upon marble col- 
umns of the Galleria della Mostra, was demolished shortly 
after 1755. 

From the final chamber of the Stivali a short passage 
continuing westward led us directly into the semicircular 
corridor which curves around the forecourt of S. Barbara, 
starting from the campanile at the southern end of the 
church's fagade and merging Itself at the other end into the 
great corridor to the Castello. It is midway in this semi- 
circle that the steps descend into it from the Corridoio dei 
Mori, where I had started; but just before reaching those 
steps my guide turned aside through a little doorway on the 
left, and led me through the celebrated Appartamenti dei 
Nani. They occupy the mezzanine floor beneath the Sala 
degli SpecchI and Appartamenti Ducali, looking upon the 
Court of Honour on one side and the Piazza Paradiso on 
the other. 

This strange suite of rooms for the ducal dwarfs is a 
unique curiosity, whose like I have never heard of elsewhere. 
Gugllelmo was the builder; but before his day Lodovico 
and Barbara had a valued pair of midgets, known as Fran- 
ceschino and wife, and Isabella derived much amusement 



500 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

from another couple, called Morgantino and Della.^^ Under 
Guglielmo their number was so increased, that he bethought 
himself of this dwelling, proportionate to their size in all 
respects. The three stairways rising to it have tiny steps, 
the ceilings graze one's head, the doorways one has to bend 
to enter, and the rooms are mostly cell-like cubicles, — unfor- 
tunately stripped today of their minute furniture. A few 
of them are broader: the entrance-hall, the succeeding vesti- 
bule with its little doric columns, the central, circular saletta 
with its archways and tiny niches, and the miniature chapel. 
All is upon such a perfect scale that the dazed visitor begins 
to fancy himself transported to Lilliputia. A fourth stairway 
is observed, by which the dwarfs mounted directly to the 
Duke's apartments overhead. The ornamentation is not 
elaborate, but there is an amount of fair stucco-work in the 
cornices and ceilings, — with difficulty inspected, for the 
rooms had been darkened by the erection of the corridor I had 
just left, and by the arcade toward the Cortile d'Onore. 

By this arcade I reached its brother on the court's southern 
side, which is the continuation of the main entrance-hallway 
of the palace ; and here, at the completion of the grand circle 
of inspection which had taken so many. hours and days, that 
inspection was fitly capped by the sight of the Reggio's 
most famous and most interesting locale j — its treasure-cham- 
ber, the Grotta of Isabella. This, or rather what is left of 
it, lies between the Court of Honour and the Piazza del Pal- 
lone, looking upon the latter: consisting now of but one 
chamber, the so-called Schalcheria, and the arcaded cortile or 
cloistered garden upon its east. The entrance is to the 
former. For an instant upon entering I was disappointed, 
having been unconsciously expecting to behold some relics of 

21 See " Buffoni, nani e schlavi dei Gonzaga ai tempi dell' Isa- 
bella d'Este;" by Luzio and Renier (Nuova Antologia). 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 501 

those innumerable art-treasures of priceless value, which Isa- 
bella spent so many years In acquiring and mounting ; yet what 
still lingers is of such significance that a number of volumes 
would be necessary to contain its literature. ^^ That which 
I saw, however, to be brief, was a good-sized, oblong apart- 
ment, with bare plastered walls, above whose cornice extended 
a beautiful series of frescoed lunettes, and a magnificent 
vaulted ceiling, completely decorated with arabesques, stucchi 
and painted panels, well preserved and still bright in hue. 

These were a work of Lorenzo Leonbruno, executed In 
1522, — although Isabella had first occupied the place In 
1496, on finding the Studiolo too small for her growing 
collection. The 14 lunettes depicted scenes from the chase 
of Diana, much injured by modern retouching but still of 
most pleasing effect: on three sides was being run the chase 
of the deer, on the fourth, that of the hare and the boar; all 
of the hounds were remarkably lifelike creatures, copied 
from actual dogs of Duke Federigo, — just as all the subjects, 
and the scheme of the ceiling (every decoration of the place, 
in fact) were furnished by the Marchesa Isabella. One 
great hexagonal panel occupies the flat of the vaulting, upon 
whose white ground the clever grotesques are very freely 
spaced ; its centre. Is a medallion portraying an upward well- 
perspective, ending in a balustrade with a young girl and 
a cupid looking down, — In imitation of Mantegna's similar 
picture in the Camera degll Sposl. Isabella Is said to be 
represented in the young woman, but her pretty features 
are obscured by the work's decay. Around this are placed 

22 L'edificatione di Mantua e I'origlne dell' antlchisslma Famig- 
Ha de' Principi Gonzaghi," by Raphael Toscano (1587) and the In- 
ventory made by the notary Odoardo Stivini (1542) have handed 
down to posterity exact descriptions of this wonderful place in its 
full grandeur, and a catalogue of its contents. 



502 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

four smaller medallions, holding charming little white stucco 
figures, relieved on gold. All these were till recently be- 
lieved to have been done by Giulio, and Lanzi speaks of them 
in evident wonder as his " beautiful works, — in which we 
still perceive some reminiscence of Raphael's engaging 
naivete." Over the large chimney-piece on the southern wall 
there is, however, a frescoed group that is far more in Giulio's 
manner, — Venus caressing Cupid, with Vulcan looking on; 
and this it is very probable that he painted. 

The walls, according to the best authorities, were in Isa- 
bella's time richly wainscoted on the lower part; and above 
this there were panels formed by ornate pilasters or strips 
of arras, holding the marvellous series of pictures; contem- 
porary descriptions speak of the beautiful woodwork, carved, 
gilded, and set with the finest tarsiatura, and of the splendid 
majolica pavement of Pesaro tiles, decorated with the various 
Gonzaga emblems.^^ The room adjoining on the west, now 
quite bare, then belonged to the suite and was similarly 
adorned. Of the pictures that filled them five were partic- 
ularly renowned, by Mantegna, Costa and Perugino. Like 
all the paintings, they were executed to Isabella's order, upon 
subjects minutely prescribed and measurements given by her, 
to take their allotted place in her classic scheme oif alle- 
gorical fancies, which should give " expression to her ideals 
of culture and dispose the mind to pure and noble thoughts." 

The first of Mantegna's was his famous Parnassus, or 
Triumph of Love, executed in tempera and one of his few 
greatest works. The second depicted the Vices being driven 
from an elysian retreat by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. 
Both were finished by the year 150 1. One of Costa's two 

23 vide " Isabella d'Este et les Artistes de son Temps," by Chas. 
Yriarte in the "Gazette des Beaux Arts," 1895. — Some of these tiles 
may be seen in the South Kensington Museum. 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 503 

allegories represented the Triumph of Poetry, with Isabella 
portrayed as the queen of that art, being crowned by Love 
and presiding over a circle of immortals; this was done in 
1505, and as a consequence Costa was called to Mantua as 
court-painter in the following year. Perugino's composition, 
the Triumph of Chastity, was not so entirely successful, for 
that genius was hampered by the Marchesa's numerous re- 
strictions; ^* it portrays Diana and Minerva overcoming in 
conflict Venus and Cupid, — backed by his usual happy vista 
of the Umbrian hills and plain. The whole five pictures 
now hang In the Louvre. Isabella failed In all her efforts 
to get an allegory from Gian Bellini ; ^^ but later on she 
procured a number of superb works from Titian and Correg- 
gio, which fitly complemented the series. The rooms, we 
must remember, were also crowded with cabinets and stands 
loaded with countless rare objeU d'art of every known spe- 
cies, besides books, manuscripts and musical instruments of 
the highest value. 

To the left opens the cortile, through a sort of arched 
loggia which was the original Grotta proper; for It was 
covered with roughened stucco in the rustic style, and its 
recesses, on both sides of the passage-way, were lined with, 
niches In which Isabella placed all the most treasured mar- 
bles of her collection. These niches still remain, some of 
them adorned with the original mosaic-backs; some are ob- 
long, for statuettes, others rounded, for vases and shorter 
marbles. In Gonzaga days this little place was wainscoted, 

2* To see her curious directions in full, inde M. Eugene Muntz's 
" Histoire de I'Art pendant la Renaissance: Italie," Vol. II. 

25 Eventually Bellini contributed a beautiful Holy Family, and 
Dosso Dossi of Ferrara, a number of lovely scenes. Titian's 
were a series of " unrivalled portraits and a splendid array of 
Holy Families and Saints painted in the same glowing colours, with 
the same exquisite landscapes." 



504 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

with low benches, with three cupboards for valuables, and 
two shelves extending above rich cornices. Upon these 
shelves and in the niches the Marchesa gathered some forty 
small pieces of marble sculpture, — original works, and repro- 
ductions on a sm.all scale of the most famous antiques — 
besides some fifty original antique bronzes. " In the cup- 
boards were cameos, sole or set in wrought gold ; one counted 
by dozens the chests of ivory and of precious woods, en- 
graved, inlaid, and set with jewels; the perfumery bottles 
and vases of precious marbles, and articles glittering with 
priceless gems, occupied every angle, amongst a rich collection 
of 250 exemplary jewels exposed in cases, and boxes whose 
compartments held another thousand. A superb table of 
porphyry enclosed in carved wood, with a most delicate 
mosaic frieze of animals and foliage, was near the window, 
and upon it the celebrated iron inkstand adorned with jewels 
set in gold." ^^ 

But of all these treasures the most precious were the three 
famous " Cupids " of Isabella, — the marble statuettes by 
Praxiteles, Sansovino and Michelanglolo, which in those days 
excited so much wonder and admiration. They occupied 
three of the most prominent niches. — Beyond the Grotta 
extended the cortile, about 30 feet in length by 25 in width, 
with triple-arched porticoes at the ends, upheld each by four 
marble columns ; no arcades were at the sides, but high walls 
decorated with rows of half-columns, rising from pedestals 
to the continuous, classic cornice, and tipped with varied 
capitals of exquisite beauty, which must have been carved 
by first-class sculptors. A small garden occupied the middle, 
with a paved walk on Its northern side ; the charming marble 
fountain that formerly cooled the air from Its centre. Is 
gone. Upon the frieze of the farther portico I read the 

26 SIg. A. Patricolo; translated freely by the author. 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 505 

words, still plainly visible: "Isabella Estensis, regum 
Aragonum neptis, ducum Ferrariae filia et soror, Marchi- 
onum Gonzagarum coniux et mater, fecit anno a partu Vir- 
ginis MDXXII ; " ^'^ which showed the date when Isabella 
had this garden enlarged and readorned in its present form, 
and the rooms redecorated. At the ends of each portico 
were two niches, and in its back wall one larger niche, that 
formerly held choice statues; roundabout them, and on the 
side walls of the court, were visible fragments of further 
decoration in mosaics and frescoing, which included the use 
of many precious marbles, with the repetition of Isabella's 
various emblems. 

These decorations in her day added a brilliant colour- 
scheme to the graces of the architecture, the marbles, the 
vases, the numerous other delightful ornaments posed upon 
pedestals and fancy tables, amidst the setting of shrubbery 
with its splashing fountain; and here, beneath an awning 
drawn across the top to ward off the sun and the rain, the 
Marchesa and her friends lounged away countless happy hours 
on couches and easy chairs, reading, talking philosophy and 
art, fondling and discussing her latest treasures, and listening 
to soft music. '* Here she would read her favourite authors, 
or sing Virgil and Petrarch's verses to her lute. Here she 
would play the clavichord with the Greek and Latin mottoes, 
— and listen to the strains of Jacopo da San Secondo's viol, 
or the recitations of the wonderful improvisatore, Serafino." 
The amazement and pleasure of foreign envoys and visitors 
of distinction, on being received in such surroundings, may 
be easily understood ; and equally were they impressed by the 
beauty, graces, learning and extraordinary character of the 

27 " Isabella Estense, niece of the kings of Aragon (Naples) 
daughter and sister of the dukes of Ferrara, consort and mother of 
the marquises of Gonzaga, constructed this in the year 1522." 



5o6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

great Marchesa herself, thus framed and set forth by all 
that was inspiring. 

Giangiorgio Trisseno, the Vicentine poet, who was re- 
ceived into Isabella's literary circle when driven from his 
home by the war of the League of Cambrai, has left us an 
accurate picture of her at about 33 years of age: " A lady 
more radiant than the sun, with golden hair falling on her 
shoulders, loosely caught up in a tan-coloured silk net, with 
knots of fine gold through which her locks shone like bright 
rays of light; a sparkling ruby and a large pearl glittered on 
her forehead, and a rope of pearls hung from her neck to 
her waist; her black velvet robe was embroidered in gold. — 
Her voice, in the words of Petrarch, is a thing chiara^ soave, 
angelica, e divina. It would have charmed Orpheus and 
Amphion themselves by its entrancing sweetness. — And if 
you had once heard her sing to the lute, you would, like the 
Sirens, forget home and country to follow its enchanted mel- 
ody. Truly Grod has given her all the gifts of the Mu- 
ses." 28 

On leaving the Grotta I was, by special request, shown the 
near-by rooms on the ground-floor of the northern Buonacolsi 
palace, between the Cortile d'Onore and Piazza Sordello; 
this score of chambers, together with certain of those over- 
head (probably the Appartamento degli Arazzi) formed 
the suite to which Isabella removed her habitation, from the 
Castello, in the year following her husband's death (1520). 
In them she resided until her son's marriage, in 153 1 ; when 
she was compelled to move the final time, to the suite of the 
Paradiso. I found the bare rooms just in course of restora- 
tion from their past two centuries of neglect and abuse. 
From the whitewashing were emerging here and there, upon 

28Trisseno's "Ritratti," as translated by Julia Cartwright 
(Supra). 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 507 

walls and over chimney-pieces, bits of Isabella's frescoing, 
including her usual mottoes and devices; the ceilings were 
of little beauty, owing to decay and subsequent renewal, but 
every indication was of interest, that showed what they were 
in the Marchesa's day. At the northeast corner of the small, 
central Cor tile di S. Croce, I noticed the private staircase 
connecting with the upper apartments ; there were her private 
chambers, and here were her reception-rooms, and those de- 
voted to her kitchens and domestic establishment. — By the 
time that this is in the reader's hands, I trust that the lower 
suite will be entirely restored and added to the past glories 
of the Reggia. — 

I had not, upon my long round, visited either the 
church or the Castello, because they are the sole buildings 
still remaining detached from the control of the national 
government, — S. Barbara being yet in Roman Catholic 
hands and used for public worship, and the Castle being still 
retained by the city authorities, for the storage of archives, 
etc. Both however can be visited, but separately. To reach 
them I repaired one morning to the triumphal archway al- 
ready mentioned, just beyond the hanging garden; this was 
erected under Giulio's designs in the first generation of the 
cinquecentOj — except for the top storey, subsequently added. 
Upon the walls of its arched passage I noticed a similar 
scheme of decoration to that which he used in the Sala dei 
Cavalli of the Palazzo del Te, — stuccoed composite columns 
and lions' heads, and paintings of which but traces now 
remained. It debouched into the western angle of the huge 
Piazza Castello ^ — a deserted, silent, dreary and crumbling 
quadrangle, paved with grass-grown cobbles, surrounded by 
the doric arcades which Duke Guglielmo erected about 1580. 
In the middle of the northeast side they bayed out into a 
wide exedra, over which rose the square, ponderous towers 



5o8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of the Castle. The entrance to the latter commenced at 
the rear of the semicircle, which communicated directly with 
the southwestern bridge across the moat. 

I proceeded first, however, to the church, crossing the 
square to its southern corner, where a passage beneath the 
covered corridor to the castle admitted me to the northwestern 
end of the forecourt, or Piazza, of S. Barbara. This semi- 
circular space, still more grass-grown and deserted, was 
bounded by a two-storied structure of yellow stucco, on 
iilled-in, rusticated arches, over which extended the en- 
closed corridor already mentioned ; far above it rose the ugly 
brick walls of the Paradiso palace on the south. The fagade 
of the church to left was a hideous rococo edifice, with dis- 
torted window-frames, and two-storied, yellow pilasters upon 
a greenish body; in pleasing contrast with which soared 
the beautiful, red-brick campanile at its farther angle, in the 
purer style of the earlier Renaissance. At the court's south- 
ern corner a long dark passage beneath the Paradiso building 
led me into the Piazza Paradiso, and the vast quadrangle of 
the Lega Lombardo {del Pallone) adorned in its centre by 
a double circle of shade-trees. 

Turning back to the church, I was admitted by the sacris- 
tan at a side door, and found myself shortly in Its spacious, 
vaulted nave of cream-coloured stucco, — rococo in all its 
lines. Over the front vestibule I observed a large balcony, 
which was often used for band-music in former days. There 
were no aisles, but the nave was first flanked by a couple 
of chapels, then extended freely to the side-walls with the 
effect of a transept; beyond this came another couple of 
chapels, and then the deep, slightly elevated choir. Above 
the first chapels and the sides of the tribune were four closed 
boxes, entered from the corridors of the Reggta and used 
formerly by the habitues of the court; that to left of 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 509 

the choir — I was told, — faced by latticed glass casements 
opening inward, was the box of the ducal family. It was 
all especially interesting as being the only precinct of the 
palace-city continuing inviolate from the Gonzaga times; 
and there still remained here many of the artistic gifts given 
by the various princes of the house. Nearly all the light 
descended from two domes, one over the tribune and the 
other above the nave at its widest part; these reminded me 
of the purposes for which Guglielmo chiefly erected the edi- 
fice, — to provide an imposing though private setting for the 
family marriages, baptisms, funerals, etc.; and the double 
cupolas were designed for throwing floods of light upon the 
parties engaged in the ceremonies, or the magnificent cata- 
falques occupying the centre of the floor. 

At the entrance to the choir hung a splendid relic from the 
treasury of ducal gifts, a beautiful silver lamp of the cinque- 
cento, ornamented with open-work, and human figures in 
relievo; below it stretched a gorgeous bronze balustrade, with 
Hermes for balusters, crowned with busts of the Saviour and 
various saints. A number of good paintings also remained: 
one by Luigi Costa in the first chapel to right ; two over the 
transept-altars by Lorenzo Costa and his name-sake son; a 
most realistic Last Supper by Andreasino in the second chapel 
to left ; a couple of saints and an Annunciation by Lor. Costa 
upon the organ-doors; and a martyrdom of S. Barbara by 
Brusasorci, over the high-altar. The oak stalls behind the 
latter were elegantly carved, with lifelike and graceful 
scenes from sacred history, — a seicentist work. In the sa- 
cristy to right I was shown a very fine bronze crucifix, of 
most vivid expression, and a number of exceptional pieces of 
goldsmiths* work. In a room on the left I saw an admir- 
able wardrobe bestowed by the present King of Italy, with 
panels of remarkable tarsia representing well-known paint- 



5IO LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ings of Raphael, Perugino, Domenlchino, etc., besides a 
wealth of arabesques, bacchantes, and other fancies. 

This peculiar church has always had a special service, 
missal and breviaries of its own, and a collegiate chapter 
accountable only to the Pope, whose five chief dignitaries 
are called Conti Palatini. These are provided by the en- 
dowment with separate dwellings, and every one of the 
canons, called Apostolic Protonotaries, is also given a sep- 
arate apartment. The right of their nomination has passed 
from the dukes to the King of Italy. 

Returning to the exedra of Piazza Castello, I found a 
woman dwelling in some adjacent rooms who kept the keys 
to the castle, and she led me across the covered bridge to its 
main hallway, which was bare and desolate. Neither the 
ground-floor rooms nor the ancient dungeons were to be seen, 
she said, being occupied by city archives; and but two rooms 
were visible on the first floor. Passing the foot of Giuilo's 
staircase, we mounted a small stairway adjacent, to the upper 
hall: it was a typical mediaeval castle-stairway, narrow and 
winding, and I wondered how many thousand times Isa- 
bella's feet had pressed these same stones, in her 30 years 
of residence here ; — the Scala Santa, Italians sometimes call 
it, because by it those hundreds of patriot-prisoners mounted 
to their cells, and the Martyrs of Belfiore descended to their 
execution. At the front end of the upper hallway we en- 
tered the long spacious chamber extending across the eastern 
fagade from one corner-tower to the other, looking upon the 
moat and lake through four or five plain windows; this main 
salon of the piano no bile was the living-room of the old 
nuptial suite, — Isabella's private drawing-room during those 
first three decades of her married life. Of its then decora- 
tions naught now remained but some faded grotesques upon 
the lofty vaulting. 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 511 

At its right end^ next to the southern tower, the small 
square turret projects from the front, within which Isabella 
formed her Studiolo: a little cubicle lighted by a single win- 
dow, and entered by an ordinary doorway. When the young 
bride, in the year following her marriage, took possession 
of this recess to make a private retreat, Mantegna, we know, 
was ordered to decorate it at her direction ; but of his labour 
only a few traces yet linger, — some fragments of frescoing 
about the sides and lintel of the window, including two 
heads in chiaroscuro that are clearly of his manner, and 
probably formed portions of large compositions. His work 
upon the vaulting was hidden by a subsequent, arched, 
wooden ceiling, attributed to Ant. and Paolo della Mola, 
now in a ruinous state; its repeated devices of Isabella — 
the musical notes and the playing cards — indicate its con- 
struction in her declining years, probably when the Palazzina 
was built just across the moat, in 153 1, and this recess 
became but an entrance-passage. The redecoration then 
made by Giulio has mostly disappeared, along with the earlier 
work, owing to the room's 350 years of use as a corridor. 
It was only about 5 years, from 1491 to '96, that Isabella's 
inchoate collection was housed here, for in the latter year it 
was removed to the Grotta; but until her husband's death 
this remained her private retreat, furnished with her few 
most cherished treasures. 

Returning across the large salon I entered the northern 
tower-chamber, the famous Camera degli Sposij — and 
stood delighted at the wondrous preservation of Mantegna's 
great frescoes, that cover its walls and ceiling. I saw a 
perfectly square room, perhaps 7}4 yards in diameter, lighted 
by a couple of plain, oblong windows next the northern and 
western angles, covered by a flat vaulting about 15 feet 
high, whose groinings so descended as to form three large 



512 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

lunettes on each side. These lunettes held medallions draped 
by festoons, in which upon blue ground were painted a lion, 
a dog, and various emblems of the family. The intervening 
concave pendentives contained eight pieces of chiaroscuro 
truly marvellous in their tactile values, grace, and natural- 
ness, which alone would rank Mantegna amongst the greatest 
artists of Earth. The design of each was in general points 
the same : a central medallion like a coin, from whose ground 
of fine gold mosaic seemingly protrudes the boldly modelled 
bust of a Roman Emperor, his curled locks bound with a 
wreath, his powerful shoulders clad in scale-armour: im- 
aginary, idealised heads, of superb and lifelike moulding, and 
vigorous, expressive individuality; the medallion being en- 
closed by a projecting circular garland of leaves and fruits, 
tied at the sides and top by three ribbons whose flying ends 
are interlaced in charming convolutions ; its bottom supported 
by a standing cherub of the most perfect beauty and mod- 
elling, — so real, so tangible, that the observer longs to seize 
his lovely little form from its corbel. The deception of 
solidity here is the most absolute I have ever seen; but, un- 
fortunately, most of the Caesarian heads, which run from 
Julius to Otho, are so badly faded as to lessen their effect, — 
only that of Tiberius, above the front window and not 
exposed to the direct light, having retained its original dis- 
tinctness. 

The triangular spaces directly over the lunettes contain 
each two or three mythological figures, such as Hercules, 
Apollo, Orpheus, etc., likewise in chiaroscuro, and sur- 
rounded by flying ribbons. The beauty of all this monotone 
is exceedingly increased by its golden background. The flat 
of the ceiling enclosed by it has a simulated framework of 
ornate white beams, four of which form the large, square, 
central panel, placed diagonally with the walls; and within 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 513 

this glows the chief feature, in hues still gay, — Mantegna's 
celebrated well-perspective, looking upward, which was prob- 
ably the first of the endless line of such decorations. Gazing 
skyward, one sees a circular parapet of marble open-work, 
roundabout which gambol eight charming puttie — three clam- 
bering round the inside, three perched on the top railing, and 
two thrusting their pretty heads through the apertures; the 
foreshortening of the standing forms is wonderful. Also 
upon the top railing, outlined against the sky of fleecy clouds, 
one sees at opposite sides a peacock and a pot of roses, and 
between them, leaning over and looking down, five feminine 
heads, very natural and pleasing. One is a negress-attendant, 
two are evidently serving-maids, a fourth is a young lady 
with pretty face and glossy, dark hair, smiling merrily, and 
the fifth is doubtless the Marchesa Barbara, Lodovico's con- 
sort, — wearing her customary white coif, and having her 
tresses bound with pearl-strings and studded with jewels; 
she was of this comely middle age when Lodovico had the 
work done, 1462-74, and the Teutonic cast of features is 
practically the same that we behold in her portrait-figure on 
the northwest wall. The younger lady must have been one 
of her daughters. 

Magnificent, however, as is all this ceiling-painting, it is 
little in comparison with the great frescoes on the walls. 
The larger of the two famous tableaux covers the northwest 
side, above the mantel; it represents probably an event of 
the year 1462, — the return to the court of Lodovico's eldest 
son, Federigo, after his alleged flight and concealment in 
Naples to avoid the marriage with Margherita of Bavaria.^® 

29 A few authorities insist the scene here portrayed was the ar- 
rival of envoys sent in 1474 by the Duke of Wurtemburg to ask the 
hand of Lodovico's daughter Barbara. Many things absolutely dis- 
prove this: Barbara and Lodovico the younger are seen to be chil- 



514 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The many lifesize figures are known to be faithful portraits, 
executed with Mantegna's scrupulous accuracy and realism; 
consequently the males exhibit the noted Gonzaga ugliness, 
— but this is redeemed by a manliness of form, a dignity of 
carriage, a nobility and intelligence of expression, that invest 
the characters with a positive charm. The composition is a 
masterpiece of naturalness combined with pleasing effects. 
It is divided into two parts: on the left we see the expectant 
family scattered informally upon a sunny terrace, surrounded 
by courtiers; on the right we see Federigo mounting the 
shadowy stairs with his companions, and welcomed by a 
couple of friends at the top. 

The comfortable-looking form o^ the Marchesa Barbara 
centres the family group, with her two youngest children, 
Barbara and Lodovico, standing at her right knee, and her 
favourite dwarf, the tiny spouse of Franceschino, dignifiedly 
erect upon the other side; to left of the children, and nearest 
the observer, sits Lodovico II in a simple fur-trimmed gown, 
turning his strong, smooth-shaven face to speak to a chamber- 
lain behind his right shoulder, — his secretary, Andreasi, who 
has evidently just handed him a letter. Behind the ducal 
couple stand half-a-dozen courtiers, doubtless intimate 
friends; on the right stand the just-grown sons, Rodolfo 
and Gianfrancesco, aged about 17 and 18 years, clad in 
long-hose and fur-edged, satin doublets, looking expectantly 
toward the stairs; their youthful ages alone prove the date 
of the scene represented. Between them and the others the 

dren at the mother's knee; the newcomer Is no grave ambassador, 
but a joyous young prince; and it is a family reunion that awaits 
him, not a formal, ducal reception. — Again, as still others claim, it 
may be that this is a scene of no historical event whatever, but 
simply a portrait-group of the family. Be that as it may; the dif- 
ferent figures and the epoch are identified, which is all we care 
about. 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 515 

eldest daughter Susanna is visible in rear, talking with an 
old nurse. Nothing could exceed the realism and individu- 
ality of all these forms, marked with their respective charac- 
ters. Behind them are observed the tops of the tall potted 
shrubs of the terrace, and its confining marble vv^all. The 
scene upon the stairway is equally realistic; its participants 
are all young men, clad like the brothers mentioned ; and the 
welcome of the friend, the joy of the returned wanderer, are 
clearly depicted. 

On the southwest wall Andrea portrayed another, similar, 
domestic event, which occurred 10 years after the last scene, 
— the return in 1472 of the second son. Cardinal Francesco, 
fresh from his elevation to that rank in Rome; to welcome 
him, the first of the Gonzaghi to reach that powerful posi- 
tion — so important to all of the family, — his father and 
brothers have gone forth some way into the country. Fran- 
cesco stands in the centre of the group, tall and broad- 
shouldered in his priestly cape and vestments, his ugly but 
fascinating features illumined by the fire of that learning 
and keen intelligence which brought him to such distinction 
as a churchman and a connoisseur. His father stands at the 
left, conversing with him, and his eldest brother Federigo 
at the right, — the same Federigo, somewhat ,older and 
stouter, who mounted the stairs before; between them is the 
youngest brother, Lodovico, now a youth of 15 and already 
in priestly garb, — in whom it is interesting to note the very 
sarnie pinched features that he showed as a boy of five in the 
first scene. He was probably a hunchback, like his sister 
Susanna, — in whom the deformity was discernible in her 
unnaturally short waist. Behind him are seen the straight 
martial figures of Rodolfo and Gianfrancesco, whose faces 
are the same as before, but clearly a decade older; they were 
splendid soldiers, and the former was killed at Fornovo, 



5i6 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

The younger Lodovico holds a couple of children by the 
hand, lads about four and six years of age, — charming little 
figures in their silk hose and fillet-bound hair; they are the 
results of the marriage of Federigo and Margherita, — Sigis- 
mondo, destined to be the second Gonzaga cardinal, and 
Gianfrancesco, the future Marquis and husband of Isa- 
bella. 

Amidst the throng of persons in the background the head 
of Mantegna himself is prominent, between Federigo and 
Gianfrancesco the elder; it is the strong, resolute, closely 
shaven face of a man of 40 years who has accomplished 
great things, — with square jaws, obstinate chin, firm straight 
mouth and prominent nose, — the same face, nevertheless, 
that I saw in the youth of 23 portrayed in the Eremetani 
at Padua. But here is a still more interesting character, — 
the strange young man of 20, with large nose and long chin, 
who is clearly revealed between the Marquis and the Car- 
dinal: it can be no other than Politian, who arrived with 
Francesco (and Alberti) on this occasion, and who had 
just attained that age. To celebrate the home-coming he 
composed within two days his celebrated poem " Orfeo," 
which, as Symonds says, ranks among the most Important 
poems of the 15th century. Andrea therefore would not 
have left him out of the scene. In rear of the whole group 
rises a vast mountain-side, on whose slopes Is depicted a 
fanciful picture of the Eternal City surrounded by Its walls, 
marked as such by its ruined temples, baths, and Coliseum, 
— a reminder of the Cardinal's sojourn. — This remarkable 
tableau was painted by Andrea In 1474; the other, there- 
fore, must have been done a full decade earlier, to account 
for its accurate portraits of the same persons when childish 
and less mature. 

To the left of the group of personages, separated by a 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 517 

pilaster, appear the horses on which the cardinal has arrived 
and the princes have ridden forth, w^Ith the grooms v^^atchlng 
them, and a pack of the Inevitable dogs, — extraordinary In 
their llf ellkeness ; behind them continues the Imposing moun- 
tainous landscape, picturesquely diversified by cliffs, vales, 
crags, w^oods, and castles perched on pinnacles. To left of 
this again, over the doorway in that wall, are seen a number 
of most delightful and natural cherubs, upholding an Inscrip- 
tion which testifies that Mantegna was the artist. Through 
all these scenes the colours, though much faded from their 
original bright lustre, are properly varied and blended, and 
of a pleasing softness. — On the other two walls are frescoed 
imitations of tapestry, of a later date. 

When this room was Isabella's bedchamber, her husband 
occupied the suite directly below, with which a private stair- 
way connected; his tower-room, the Cainera del Sole, is 
still painted on Its vaulting with the sunburst and golden 
ribbons, and upon its spandrels and lunettes with the various 
other Gonzaga mottoes and devices, which were placed there 
under Francesco II, before 1444. — Of all the work that was 
done upon the Castello by Glulio, Primaticcio, Leonbruno 
and Lor. Costa, there seems to be naught remaining (aside 
from the Studiolo) but a few bits of faded arabesques and 
crumbling stucchi in two or' three chambers on the southern 
side of this floor, and in several camerini di hagno on the 
western side, decorated with painted stucco-panelling. — I 
climbed the stairs again, to the upper floor, and traversed 
slowly, thoughtfully, its long series of prison-cells hallowed 
by patriotic memories. The bedrooms of an earlier age had 
been cut up by the Austrlans into dozens of brick-walled 
cubicles, with iron-studded doors and barred windows closed 
by heavy shutters; according to size, they held one or more 
prisoners, and the topmost tower-chambers were large enough 



5i8 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

for a dozen. Gone was all their miserable furniture, but the 
sad memories lingered in the writings upon the walls, — 
names, appeals, verses, sighs of resignation, death-bed cries 
for Italy's freedom. 

I saw the mean cells where the noble young Tito Speri 
and the other Martyrs of Belfiore awaited their doom. 
With particular interest also I observed that of Felice Or- 
sini, from which he made his marvellous escape in 1856: 
with a file that had been smuggled to him In food he cut the 
window-bars, and lowered himself from this dizzy height 
by a frail rope made of ravellings from a sheet and his under- 
clothes; the fall into the dry moat from its too short end 
badly injured his leg, but a couple of patriotic peasants, pass- 
ing at daybreak, heard his low cries for help, pulled him out, 
and carried him to their home.^^ Thence, at the risk of 
their own lives, he was smuggled by night-travelling Into 
Switzerland. The final result was that terrible attempt 
upon the life of Napoleon III, two years later, when Orsini 
and three companions, crazed with rage at the Emperor's ap- 
parent refusal to help Italy, threw at his carriage those three 
frightful bombs which killed 10 persons and Injured 156. — 
" When we Italians consider," — cried D'Azello, — " had 
Orsini succeeded! — This subject makes my hair stand on 
end. Let us thank God that he did not." ^^ The mis- 
guided patriot's last thoughts before the guillotine were of 
his beloved land: 

" Condemned I die, by one who once conspired 
With me, and stood behind while I struck. 
Where are the Gracchi ? — Are they set, 

^^ Vide Felice Orslni's Autobiography, and his " Austrian Dun- 
geons " ; also J. W. Mario's " Birth of Modern Italy," page 2^7. 
31 Massimo D'Azelio's "My Recollections," 



MANTUA THE MAGNIFICENT 519 

Never to rise again? No, there remain 
For Italy, brave guides to lead her sons 
In the right path, altho' its end be death." " 

32 Walter Savage Landor. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE PALAZZO DEL TE, SABBIONETA, AND ENVIRONS OF 

MANTUA 

"Look downward where an hundred realms appear — 
Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide, 
The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride." 

Goldsmith's " Traveller." 

" GiULio Romano's Palazzo del Te at Mantua," said 
Symonds, " may be cited as the most perfect production of 
this epoch, combining, as it does, all the forms of antique 
decoration and construction with the vivid individuality of 
genius. Giulio Romano comprehended the antique, and 
followed it with the enthusiasm of a neophyte. His very 
defects prevented him from falling into the frigid formalism 
of Palladio." ^ "In the palace of the Te," wrote Forsyth, 
" he assembled all the graces — he left on the very archi- 
tecture a congenial stamp." ^ 

To grasp the reason for the supreme position of this won- 
derful, ideal villa of the Renaissance, we have only to re- 
member that it was fathered by one of the very few most 
cultured and magnificent sovereigns of that era, who knew 
enough to give his artist carte blanche, and spared no ex- 
pense whatsoever; that it was builded at the very apex of 
the neo-classic revival, just before the decadence commenced; 
and most of all, that its unfettered creator was that genius 
who above all the great masters was perfectly fitted to con- 
struct such a supreme shrine to Beauty and Pleasure, — which 

ij. A. Symonds' "Fine Arts." 
2 Forsyth's "Excursions into Italy" (1801). 

520 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 521 

was man's highest attempt to embody his age-long dreams 
of summer palaces in Elysian gardens. Even in its own day, 
when Tuscany, the Veneto, and the Milanese were filled 
with splendid classic villas all striving for that ideal, the Te 
was unequalled for its combination of charms : its setting was 
a royal park of majestic glades and vistas, its size was im- 
posing, its architecture was one of the grandest efforts of 
the Greek revival, its regal suites of lofty halls were spa- 
cious and impressive, its surrounding pleasaunces were gar- 
dens whose shrubberies, marbles and tinkling fountains would 
have tempted Bacchus and his crew of satyrs back to Earth. 
Yet surpassing all these beauties was that superb scheme of 
decoration on which the enthusiastic Giulio poured forth 
all the most brilliant fancies of his rich imagination, all his 
fondest dreams of Olympian graces and grandeur, transport- 
ing these noble halls and porticoes to the realms of Arcady 
and Parnassus. 

Giulio had his faults, but after all they were insignificant 
beside his mighty powers, — his largeness of vision, his gran- 
deur of conception, his keenness in realising his glorious 
fancies, with their enchanting combinations of form and 
line and colour; architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaics, 
were all splendidly handled and sublimely blended, with a 
masterful touch that struck from the various instruments one 
paean of joyous, triumphant harmony. No other genius of 
the Renaissance was so perfectly adapted to realise this em- 
bodiment of the classic pleasure-ideal; and no other had this 
perfect opportunity. 

If such was the position of the Te in that wonder-working 
age, how much more unique is it today, when, amidst the 
crumbling into ruin and desolation of nearly all that host 
of rural palaces, it remains preserved to us as by a miracle, — 
its walls still intact, its suites unaltered, its noble salons 



522 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

still radiant in their glories of frescoing and sculpture. 
Through them, as nowhere else, we walk beside Isabella, 
Bembo, Castlglione, and all the intellectual giants of man- 
kind's rebirth, beholding with our own eyes this unchanged, 
classic fairyland in which they moved inspired. We miss 
only the minor, replaceable details, — the gold and white 
furniture, the silks and tapestries, the crowd of priceless 
objets d'art, the ordered shrubberies and marbles of the gar- 
dens. 

The Te is situated immediately south of the city, closely 
beyond the Porta Posterla in the middle of the southern 
wall. Here, amidst the extensive swamps that from time 
immemorial hemmed in and protected the town, Francesco 
Gonzaga IV took notice, about 1400, of a considerable 
stretch of land somewhat elevated above the water,^ and 
constructed upon it a sort of stock-farm for his horses. The 
stables were enlarged and bettered by the subsequent mar- 
quises, until Federigo II, in 1525, conceived the idea of 
adding a pleasure-house for the delight of his mistress, Isa- 
bella BoschettI, — a rural retreat amongst the woods, to 
which they and a few companions could retire at will and 
enjoy themselves free from the restrictions of the court. 
The task he entrusted to Giulio Romano, who but three years 
previously had been brought to him by Castlglione. Giulio, 
using his unfettered opportunity, soon produced a small 
structure so full of beauty and promises of greater things, 
that Federigo caught fire from the enthusiasm of the master, 
and ordered him to go ahead to the full extent of his desires. 
He had opened the Marquis's eyes to a new and plastic ma- 
terial, — in a word, to the possibilities of stucco ; though he 
would have liked to build of stone, yet, there being none 

s From the marshy ground, called tejetto, came the abbreviation 
Te, or The. 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 523 

easily procurable, Giulio " contented himself with brick and 
other substitutes," — says Vasari — " which he covered with 
stucco, and out of these materials made columns, bases, capi- 
tals, cornices, doors, and windows, all in the most perfect 
proportion and beautifully decorated." With such speed 
was the labour pushed — for Giulio was a worker of unpar- 
alleled rapidity — that by 1535 the whole magnificent edifice 
was completed, — gardens, sculptures, paintings and all. 
Under the master laboured Primaticcio, Pagni, Scultori, 
Rinaldo Mantovano, Battista his brother, and a dozen lesser 
artists; but everything had been done under Giulio's own 
direction, after his cartoons, and the pictures which he did 
not paint himself had been gone over and corrected by him 
before they were dry. 

Federigo and his successors justly appreciated this monu- 
ment of art, and the glory which it brought them ; many were 
the great fetes held in it during the following 200 years, and 
it was the special scene of the magnificence of Guglielmo 
and Vincenzo I, for whose lavish entertainments it afforded 
an ideal setting. At the time of the sack, and again upon the 
fall of the last Gonzaga in 1708, the Te suffered despolia- 
tion and considerable injury. Maria Theresa had it cleaned 
and restored in 1728; in 1781 troops were again quartered 
in it, and also during the following era of the Revolution; 
finally, in the second Austrian period, it was once more 
renovated, and the frescoes retouched. Today therefore the 
paintings of Giulio are beheld in much of their primeval 
brilliancy and decorative effect, but the subtleness of his 
colour-schemes, his finer details, his faces and expression, are 
in great part obliterated. After the Risorgimento the prop- 
erty was acquired by the Municipality of Mantua, who have 
ever since tended the palace with anxious care, letting out 
to private tenants only that portion in which there are no 



524 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

artistic remains. They replanted with trees the surrounding 
ground, which had become bare during the convulsions of 
the preceding century; so that now we see the great villa 
in somewhat the same wooded environment that it had in 
Gonzaga days. 

The way to it lies out the Via Principe Amadeo, past the 
ruinous church of S. Sebastiano, — a sufficiently long walk 
to make a carriage advisable to all who are not excellent 
pedestrians; as I found by my own experience. Beyond 
the Porta Pusterla, however, — which is no longer marked 
by a gateway, — the walk was pleasant across the meadows : 
immediately next the brick city wall, sweeping far away on 
each hand with repeated bastions, a small stream here lin- 
gered in the ancient fosse, spanned by a bridge of masonry; 
beyond which extended the drained depression of 50 or 60 
yards' breadth, crossed by the road upon a dyke. Not a 
house nor a human being was in sight, except a group of 
women washing clothes at the water's edge. Ahead ap- 
peared the tall trees of the park, and its ornamental gate- 
way of yellow stucco, consisting of two cubical renaissance 
pavilions topped by images of spread-eagles. Within this I 
crossed the track of the steam-tramway to Modena,— whose 
station and yards were visible to the right, — and kept on 
down the highway between rows of splendid plane-trees; 
other imposing planes stretched across the fields in noble 
avenues, shading glades of springy turf. But quickly the 
road wheeled to the left, and there, behind an expanse of 
lawn crossed by a driveway, rose the beautiful edifice of 
the Te. 

The first glance was disappointing, — so low appeared the 
structure, and so simple in style; but it was the simplicity 
of true grace, and its two storeys in reality have the height 
of four of today; very deceiving is the effect of its perfect 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 525 

proportions. I saw an Immense cube of yellow Stucco, 
browned in spots by the damp, with a look of great ponder- 
osity, even majesty, due to the heavy rustica and the impress- 
iveness of its doric order. Both of its faces (to north and 
west) are the same: a lofty triple archway pierces the mid- 
dle, framed in huge blocks of radiating rustica; similar 
blocks frame the rows of large square-headed windows on 
each side, the upper ones being but half the size of the lower, 
and square in shape; these pairs are separated by massive 
doric pilasters in high relief, rising from bulky bases to the 
doric frieze; the latter between its triglyphs bears reliefs of 
arms, musical instruments, helmets, deer, and various Gon- 
zaga emblems; and the dark tiled roof slopes but slightly 
from the simple cornice, with short and inconspicuous 
chimneys. 

To east from the main, northern fagade extends a long, high 
wall of plainest stucco, enclosing the garden, which lies upon 
that side. Advancing to the principal entrance, I rang at 
the single doorway beneath its portico, and on being admitted 
by the custode, found myself in another graceful portico 
looking upon the central cortile. This was a spacious square 
filled with grass-plots and shrubbery, intersected by two 
gravel-walks at right angles; formerly, I was told, it was 
partly marble-paved, with a fountain; and the surrounding 
walls — quite similar in design to the exterior faces — bore 
then long rows of statues in the now empty niches between 
the windows. The portico itself had a fine coffered vault- 
ing by Rinaldo Mantovano, brightly painted, and upon its 
walls, two fanciful landscapes by his brother Camillo, ruined 
by retouching; while the lunettes above the doorways held 
a couple of uninteresting stucco figures of doubtful meaning. 

This entrance-passage, together with the two chambers 
at its sides, was the first part of the whole structure raised 



526 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

by Giulfo, whose success inspired the Marquis to authorise 
the larger work. I stepped into the room upon the right, 
behind which stretches the suite occupied by the custodian 
and his family: here were the first of Giulio's frescoes, two 
panels in the centre of the vaulting with representations of 
Apollo and Diana driving their chariots, — gay in hue, 
graceful in outline, and happily decorative. The surround- 
ing slopes were fashioned by white stucco mouldings into 
diamond-shaped coffers of pale green, which set forth a series 
of individual white figures by Primaticcio, — charming mytho- 
logical deities, in flowing robes. It is no wonder that Fed- 
erigo was delighted by this work, the first of its kind that he 
had seen. Around the walls were many plaster copies of 
classic reliefs in the Museo Civico, brought here during the 
second Austrian regime, — The remaining rooms on this 
side of the entrance, occupied by the* keeper, have no decora- 
tions of worth now, and are not shown; the suites adjacent 
on the west of the court, originally bedrooms and private 
chambers, and therefore not highly ornamented, have like- 
wise no present interest, and are let to respectable tenants, 
who enter only by the outer, western portal. 

The public halls extend east from the front entrance, and 
along the whole eastern side toward the garden, rising 
mostly to the full height of the palace, and lighted both from 
without and from the court ; — as I found upon now enter- 
ing the first of them, the lofty Sala dei Cavalli. This spa- 
cious chamber, immediately to left of the portico, was the 
anticamera and guardroom, where the ducal body-guard 
kept watch, and applicants for the ducal presence were 
kept waiting. Its richly coffered ceiling is coloured in gold 
and green, with the Gonzaga device of Mt. Olympus painted 
in the panels; its frescoed frieze, of charming putti inter- 
twined with arabesques, is said to have come from Giulio's 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 527 

own hand; the broad walls are painted with an architec- 
tural scheme in grisaille^ between whose coupled columns 
stand five antique statues and five busts, similarly depicted; 
leaving six wider apertures or bays — two upon each side 
and two at the ends — In which stand half-a-dozen hand- 
some, llfesize chargers. In their natural shades of chestnut 
and white, apparently tied by their bridles to the ornamental 
pillars. These well-executed animals, from the brushes of 
Ben. Pagni and RInaldo Mantovano, portray the favourite 
riding horses of Duke Federigo, of whose points he was very 
proud. Here, also, and In several of the succeeding halls, 
I noticed many small figures of the salamander, usually ac- 
companied by the motto, " Quod huic deest, me torquet " : 
an interesting reference to the original cause of the villa's 
erection, indicating that the fire which the salamander en- 
joyed was consuming the Marquis, — with love for the Bos- 
chettl. 

This hall Is so long that its successor occupies the adja- 
cent corner of the palace, — a large, square chamber, frescoed 
from end to end and over the whole of its lofty vaulting, 
the famous Sala di Psyche; it Is by far the most highly 
decorated of them all. And the fact which gives It beauty 
and celebrity is that Glulio did most of the work himself, 
using Isabella Boschetti as a model for the Psyche. Here 
we behold him at his best, in the full tide of his luxurious 
and splendour-loving fancy; for his huge, magnificent tab- 
leaux that convert the walls into the Elysian bowers of 
Olympus, veritably transporting the observer to the nec- 
tareous banquets of the gods, — have been so little damaged 
by age and retouching that they still exhibit most of their 
original charm. I know of nothing to equal this wonderful 
chamber in 'its perfect reproduction of the ancient spirit that 
deified the beauties of nature and the human form, — in its 



528 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

utter abandon to the delights of the senses; and the theme 
is realised on a grandiose scale that combines dozens of fairy- 
like scenes with great tableaux of gorgeous brilliancy, — 
that teems with loveliness in a hundred voluptuous forms, 
set in landscapes of exotic lustre. 

The history of Psyche commences in the octagonal coffers 
of the vaulting, which picture her early days with her wor- 
shipping parents, her seizure by Cupid, their happiness to- 
gether, the jealous suggestion of her sisters, and her awaken- 
ing of Cupid by viewing him with a light; the last panel 
only was executed by Giulio himself, — a beautiful piece of 
chiaroscuro-work, with lifelike, graceful, finely moulded 
forms, which thoroughly betray the loveliness of the Bos- 
chetti. All the rest of the panels were done by Pagni and 
Rinaldo; but many of them also contain figures of Ideal 
modelling, charmingly posed, and most dramatically expres- 
sive. The square central coffer is said by some critics to be 
Glulio's work: its perspective is a marvel, depicting Jupiter 
at a great height, hovering directly above the group of 
deities assisting at the wedding, and blessing Cupid and 
Psyche with outstretched hands; the whole scene being 
shrouded in phantom-like clouds, extending upward like a 
funnel. Roundabout are four half-octagons, holding sepa- 
rate divinities that display the most perfect figures In the 
room; these are surrounded by the 8 full octagons already 
mentioned, — between which and the lunettes intervene a 
dozen triangular, curving spaces, filled with amoretti, who 
are frolicking and dancing to music in an enchanting manner 
that none but Giulio could draw. 

His method of thus working through his disciples, which 
enabled him to accomplish so much in a short time, is de- 
scribed by Lanzi : " He was accustomed himself to prepare 
the cartoons, and afterwards, having exacted from his pupils 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 529 

their completion, he went over the entire work with his 
pencil, and removed its defects, impressing at the same time 
upon the whole the stamp of his own superior character. 
This method he acquired from Raflaello." * It accounts for 
the only slight difference here between his own scenes and 
those painted by the disciples. The effects of the restorations 
are obtruded upon the attention only in the loss of Giulio's 
exquisite colour-schemes, which are overlaid by hues somewhat 
violent and discordant; how lovely his original tinting was, 
we may see in his arabesqued gabinetti in the palace of S. 
Sebastiario. 

From the octagons Psyche's story is continued in the 12 
large lunettes, in which we behold her heroic efforts to rejoin 
her lost lover; we see her repulsed by Juno, by Ceres, de- 
scending into Hades to seek Proserpina, stealing the lock 
of golden wool, sifting the heap of sand, etc., and finally, 
brought before Venus, who consigns her to torments by the 
Furies. Cupid's intercession with Jove, and the latter's 
action on behalf of the distressed lovers, are not depicted; 
but we view the happy result, in Giulio's two great tableaux 
on the inner walls, which cover the entire spaces between 
the lunettes and the tops of the doors. Beneath them ex- 
tends a sort of stucco wainscoting, formerly draped with 
arras. The southern picture shows the nuptial feast : a table 
loaded with gold and silver plate amidst a wide-stretching 
landscape of southern aspect ; an ass, a camel and an elephant 
standing near, that are supposed to have conveyed provisions; 
Bacchus, Silenus, Apollo, and other deities and nymphs, 
crowding around the board to sample the wine and edibles 
prepared; Psyche and Cupid reclining on a couch to right, 
smiling at the revellers and being served by attendants. 
These last two forms, as well as Apollo and Bacchus, are re- 

* Lanzi's " History of Painting." 



530 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

markable for their beauty, and the care-free joyousness of 
their expressions and attitudes. 

The western picture shows the broad table now spread 
with snowy cloth, the Graces scattering flowers upon it, 
satyrs bringing forth viands, nymphs lending assistance, 
and fauns disporting with goats; while Mercury appears at 
the right side, to announce the gods' approaching arrival. 
But the setting here is different: a lovely bower of roses 
backs the table, with a vista on the one hand of distant 
rocky peaks, on the other of a sunny lake amidst idyllic 
slopes, upon whose verge recline a naiad and a river-god. 
Over the rose-bower, across the upper part of the triple 
openings in the wall of the seeming portico that shades the 
feast, extend two lines of parallel bars; and perched upon 
these, against the sky, are the scene's most delightful fea- 
ture, — a dozen pretty winged cherubs, gambolling with flow- 
ers, singing merrily to the music of an orchestral trio in the 
middle. Nothing more charming than these happy babes 
could be imagined, — the same charm of abandon that dis- 
tinguishes the whole theme, and which must have communi- 
cated itself to the real diners below, in those countless daz- 
zling banquets that were given here by the Gonzaga princes. 

Upon the walls broken by windows Giulio placed a num- 
ber of subsidiary tableaux, unconnected with Psyche's story 
but of similar erotic spirit: on the north side we see Mars 
and Venus in the bath, Venus and Adonis surprised by 
Mars, and Bacchus and Ariadne served by a satyr; on the 
east side we see Jove presenting himself to Olympia in the 
form of a dragon, the giant Polyphemus, and Pasiphae enter- 
ing the wooden cow of Daedalus. All are from Giulio's 
own brush, but badly damaged by the restorers, — only the 
exquisite group of Bacchus and Ariadne retaining its original 
attractiveness. 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 531 

Turning southward here, I entered the smaller Camera 
delle Medaglie, so called from its series of 16 beautiful 
panels of stucco reliefs extending around beneath the vault- 
ing, representing the different common activities of life, — 
such as fishing, dancing, racing, playing, the chase, the mar- 
ket, etc.; all were remarkably well done, by Scultori and 
Mantoanello. One was a notable exception in subject, — a 
view of the garden of the Te as it originally appeared. By 
the same hands — also, of course, from Glulio's cartoons — 
was the richly coffered, low ceiling, in whose squares and 
hexagons glistened the signs of the zodiac in gilded stucco, 
and numerous white figures of history and mythology. Un- 
der the medallions stretched a course of delicately moulded 
festoons, drooping from the little Hermes that supported the 
sprlngings of the vaulting; and beneath these extended the 
lovely cornice, luxuriantly adorned with dainty reliefs and 
arabesques. The floor here, like that in the last chamber 
and in several others, was noteworthy for- being the original 
mosaic pavement, exceptionally preserved. 

The Sala di Fetonte followed, with another low ceiling 
of extraordinary ornamentation, — so called because its cen- 
tral, painted panel represents Phaeton falling from his fiery 
chariot, smitten by the thunderbolt from Jove. The lower 
slopes of the vaulting hold four stucco-framed lunettes, each 
painted by Giullo with six small tableaux of exquisite deli- 
cacy, representing the youth of different gods; above these 
are four larger frescoes by Giullo, depicting the battles of 
the Naiads and the Tritons, the Centaurs and the Amazons; 
between them, on the mid-slopes, are four of Primaticclo's 
finest reliefs, with classic subjects; elsewhere the ceiling is 
a mass of painted foliations in white and green, interspersed 
with more than 200 tiny amortnt, in every conceivable pos- 
ture. The frieze is relieved with little eagles holding fes- 



532 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

toons, under which tapestries formerly depended, and over 
which are posed a row of antique marble busts of Roman 
empresses, alternating with reliefs of Roman trophies and 
Gonzaga arms. The handsome doorways are of pietrosanto, 
and the magnificent mantel is of Lucchessino marble. 

Hence I stepped into the central portico of this eastern 
side, called the Grand Atrium, — which is one of the most 
splendid features of the palace. To the left it looks upon the 
neglected garden through three massive archways, with cof- 
fered soffits, upheld by quadruple clusters of doric columns; 
corresponding to these clusters are heavy piers upon the en- 
closed court-side, each adorned with one or three lifesize 
statues in niches; and from columns to piers circles the lofty 
vaulting, frescoed from end to end with tableaux, patterns 
and arabesques, said to have been executed by Giulio himself. 
Three large scenes extend down its middle; and four more 
occupy the lunettes at the sides and ends, — each of those 
over the end doorways being surrounded by five medallions of 
stucco reliefs by Primaticcio; the theme of all these tableaux 
is the life of David, — whence the portico is often called the 
A trio di Davide, — and the subject is continued on a series 
of 1 8 rectangular panels of reliefs, of varying length, moulded 
in stucco and painted to resemble bronze, which extend 
around the three walls beneath the frieze. Originally these 
last were really of bronze, but having been carried away by 
the French, they had to be replaced by plaster copies; their 
artist is said to have been Degli Orefici, a pupil of Cellini. 
Similarly, the 14 statues extending roundabout in niches — 
8 on the piers of the inner wall and 3 on each end wall 
beside the portal — were originally marbles of great beauty, 
representing divinities, of which but plaster copies remain. 

There is a reminder here of the Austrian siege of the 
French garrison in 1799, — a gaping hole in one of Giulio's 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 533 

attractive octagonal pictures in the centre of the vaulting, 
through which a cannon-ball plowed its way. — The middle 
arch on the inner side is open into the court; those upon the 
left afford an uninterrupted view of the pleasaunce, across 
a deep, dry fosse stretching immediately below. This was 
not a moat, but a channel of changing water stocked by the 
princes with every kind of fish they could procure, — the 
Gonzaga aquarium; in place of the modern bridge crossing 
from the central archway to the garden, marble steps then 
descended to the water's edge, where the court and its visitors 
used to sit, observing the varied specimens of aquatic life. 
The outer wall of the fosse was a mass of coloured marbles 
and statuary, from which fell jets and cascades of incoming 
water. 

Beyond this stretched then the spacious greenery, in its 
carefully ordered figures of turf, shrubberies and flowerbeds, 
shaded by groves of rare and beautiful trees, amidst which 
gleamed everywhere the marble of statuary and splashing 
fountains; rare plants of every obtainable species contributed 
to its exotic charm; the boundary walls at the sides were 
covered with glowing scenes of Elysian life by Caravaggino, 
and across the far end extended a glistening arcade on clus- 
tered columns, echoing the ornate face of the royal villa. 
Vanished is all this paradise now, — replaced by a wide 
stretch of weedy grass, bounded by bare stucco walls at the 
sides, and by the semicircular red-brick colonnade at the end 
which Prince Eugene erected in lieu of the ruined arcade of 
Giulio. The fagade of the palace, as I saw on walking forth, 
alone remains the same, with its imposing central portico, 
and its long row of graceful arches sustained by slender 
columns resting on parapets. The Grotta of Giulio also 
rem.ains, In its small building at the garden's northeast cor- 
ner, no longer hidden by trees. 



534 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

Leaving that for the end, we continued southward from 
the Atrium, stepping next into the delightful Sala degli 
Stwcchi: this received its name from the double frieze of 
white reliefs, each about 2 feet high, filled with countless 
figures marching in one vast, continuous procession, which 
represents the entry into Mantua of the Emperor Sigismund 
in 1433, when he created the marqulsate of the Gonzaghi. 
Over the door to the next room we see the Emperor himself, 
a noble form on horseback, followed by a file of gaily ca- 
parisoned chargers, then by officers, guards, bands of music, 
foot-soldiers, banners, troops of cavalry, captives, — ■ every 
division of an army, down to the butchers of the commis- 
sariat; all executed with astonishing lifelikeness and vigour, 
and in perfect preservation. It is one of the chefs d'osuvres 
of Primaticcio, who was assisted by Scultori. By artistic 
license the whole army is garbed in ancient Roman cos- 
tumes. The handsome vaulting is also by the great master of 
stucco-work: its large square coffers are filled with mytho- 
logical groups, and at the ends rise two lunettes containing 
lifesize reclining figures of Mars and Hercules, strongly 
modelled, — topped by radiating panels with tiny figures. 

The Sala di Cesare succeeded, so called from the fres- 
coed medallion in the centre of the vaulting, in which the 
great Julius is seen amongst his lictors, commanding the 
burning of the private papers of Pompey; in this, and in the 
two other medallions over the doorways — portraying Scipio 
and Alexander — Primaticcio tried his hand at frescoing. 
They are not offensively poor, — but, as the custode well 
remarked, Primaticcio was a decorator, not a painter. 
Around the central panel stand 6 large Roman warriors, 
of which Giulio executed the four upon the slopes ; the right- 
hand one upon the northern side is furnished with his own 
lineaments. But the wonderful feature of this chamber is 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 535 

the frieze of putti, painted by Giulio in grisaille, on brown: 
these cherubs are of a most celestial beauty and joyousness, 
drawn with a perfection of modelling and a grace that noth- 
ing could excel, — walking, frolicking, playing instruments, 
carrying festoons of flowers, drinking from vases, etc. One 
has only to glance at them to realise the truth of the asser- 
tion that Giulio was the greatest putti-^dintzx that ever 
lived ; — the reason being, that he infused into them all the 
joys and graces of his own soul. 

Finally now I entered, in the southeastern corrler of the 
palace, Giulio's celebrated Sala dei Giganti, in which he 
poured forth all the grotesque and colossal fancies of his 
extraordinary imagination, — all that side of his dream- 
world which strove after the horrible and the immense, 
which I had already seen partly in evidence in his huge 
Hermes of the Palazzo della Giustizia. Every great artistic 
mind seems to have a certain leaning to the uncouth and the 
awful; Leonardo showed his, in the keen enjoyment with 
which he ever sought and drew persons of fearful ugliness, 
and MIchelangiolo his, in the terrors of his Last Judgment, 
and the size and exaggerated strength of most of his created 
forms. Giulio took for his exposition the War of the Titans 
with Jove, — a theme as daring, as tremendous, as it would 
be possible to find here below; and using the four walls and 
vaulting of this chamber as one would construct a cyclorama, 
he obliterated their form and architecture, submerged their 
very being, under one vast, unbroken picture of the primitive 
world of the Giants, shaking to its centre with the throes of 
the awful combat. The Palazzo del Te, the modern world, 
fade to nothingness with him who enters these strange por- 
tals; and he stands amidst the falling caverns, the rocking 
mountains, the opening abysses, the boiling sea, of that Titan- 
peopled earth crashing to its destruction; he is a participator 



536 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

in the terrible cataclysm, and seems to feel the solid rock 
quake beneath his feet. 

It is a cavern, apparently, in which the spectator finds 
himself, — one of those huge caverns in which the giants 
dwelt, — whose roof has just fallen upon all sides, accom- 
panied by portions of the surrounding mountains, burying 
beneath the debris many of the struggling monsters. On 
one side naught is seen of them but the extremities of one 
colossus, and the ruins heaving above others ; near-by appears 
the projecting one-eyed head of Polyphemus, bellowing with 
pain and fury; on another side two Titans are visible uplift- 
ing the masses of rock pressing upon them and struggling 
to emerge, — terrifying, brutish forms, teeming with evil 
passions; between them a large aperture afFords a vista of 
the surging sea, with a peopled island whose crags are top- 
pling upon the inhabitants, crushing many and hurling oth- 
ers into the water; two of them are trying to climb forth 
into this very cavern, their massive, uncouth heads, glaring 
eyes and clutching hands reaching almost to one's feet; 
through another crevice a far expanse of landscape is seen, 
across which numbers of Titans are fleeing, smitten as they 
run by the hail of thunderbolts from the sky; in still another 
direction one beholds the great temple of the giants, to which 
many have rushed for refuge, — but its mighty columns are 
snapping, and, with its ponderous roof, are dashing in frag- 
ments on those below. 

Fully 80 of the Titans are visible in all these scenes, " so 
inconceivably ugly and grotesque," said Dickens, " that it is 
marvellous how any man can have imagined such creatures, 
— monsters with swollen faces and cracked cheeks, and 
every kind of distortion of look and limb, — undergoing and 
doing every kind of mad and demoniacal destruction." * 

5 Dickens' *' Pictures from Italy." 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 537 

Marvellous is the word for this feat of Giulio, in which, 
wrote Lanzi, " he appeared to compete with Michelangiolo 
himself in the hardihood of his design ; " seldom indeed did 
dramatic composition more directly and powerfully accom- 
plish its purpose. I have no patience with those critics who 
turn up their noses at the whole effect because the faces of 
the giants are " lacking in true expression ; " how could it 
be otherwise when the brushes of two sets of " restorers " 
have been over those faces, obliterating every original line 
and painting over every feature ! 

The scenes upon earth are wonderfully complemented by 
those in the heaven, where the host of the gods appear, 
equally agitated by the struggle. Looking up, one sees in 
the zenith the empty throne of Jove, framed by a circular 
loggia and surrounded by rolling clouds; below, in a great 
circle, extends the throng of the Olympians, stopped from 
their usual occupations, gazing downward in fear at the 
awful conflict and anxiously seeking counsel from each other. 
Every prominent deity is visible, clearly distinguished by the 
customary form and implements ; the Hours have halted their 
horses in dismay, the nymphs and satyrs are overcome by 
fright. Mars and Venus flee with Cupid; the four Winds 
alone keep at their work, blowing furious tempests to the 
aid of Jupiter. The latter has descended lowest of them 
all, and from a commanding cloud, aided by Juno, is hurling 
his thunderbolts angrily at the Titans, with careful aim. — 
Rinaldo and Caravaggino were Giulio's assistants upon this 
work, and doubtless did much of the colouring, from his 
cartoons. — 

In accentuated and delightful contrast with these 
grandiose halls was the suite of little rooms,* daintily orna- 

6 Little by comparison with the other apartments, yet of good size 
and height compared with modern rooms. 



538 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

merited like cameos, which succeeded the last hall, running 
westward across the rear of the cortile: semi-private cham- 
bers of the Duke and his intimates, with low, confidential 
ceilings and a more homelike air. Here were held the re- 
stricted house-parties, the gay little suppers, the nights of 
frivolity with the Boschetti and her friends; here doubtless 
the princes slept and worked when staying in the villa, and 
received their breakfasts from the adjacent kitchens in the 
southwest corner. The suite is double, with parallel cham- 
bers, the more important looking upon the court and the 
lesser looking to the south; they are in a damaged condition, 
some much more so than others, because of long use as sleep- 
ing quarters for the Austrian troops. The first one, facing 
north, is remarkable for its characteristic ceiling-decoration 
by Giovanni da Udine, who was prevailed upon to give the 
Te a little of his time; its grotesques are in his happiest 
manner, most gaily tinted, and worthily set off by Primatic- 
cio's lovely stucchi filling the lunettes, with white figures 
on a maroon field. Back of this I obserx'^ed a domed apart- 
ment, probably designed for an oratory, similarly ornamented 
by Giovanni and Primaticcio. The latter endowed the sec- 
ond chamber on the court-side with one of his beautiful 
white friezes, of separate panels; naught is more charming 
than his graceful Greek forms, nude or in flowing robes, 
posed amidst temples and idyllic scenes. The original ceil- 
ing here held famous paintings by Giulio; but having been 
stolen in the wars, it was replaced by the Austrians with 
the present wooden coffering; they at the same time redec- 
orated the walls. 

The following chamber is ennobled by one of Primatic- 
cio's splendid double friezes, — the first exhibiting fauns and 
bacchantes at intervals (in- white, upon imitation-marble of 
reddish veining) upholding the cornice, and centered by three 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 539 

panels depicting Fortune, Force, and Thoughtf ulness ; the 
second displaying more bacchantes, on Imitation-marble of 
cerulean hue, alternating with medallions containing myth- 
ological deities. The original ceiling was of real marble, 
replaced now by an imitation, of wood. Traversing next a 
room entirely desolated by the troopers, I reached the last 
one on the court-side, which has conserved Its primary 
wooden ceiling with coffers painted by the pupils of Man- 
tegna; the central panels show the Gonzaga arms held by 
genii, and two of the master's well-like perspectives ending 
in open, circular balustrades, from which look down a lady 
combing her hair and a mother cleaning her child. The 
quaint frieze of arabesques in grisaille^ Is of the same source, 
with tiny busts at intervals, of the Gonzaga marchionesses. 
The remainder of the suite, looking southward, has preserved 
no decorations worth annotation. 

Returning to the Grand Atrium and the garden, I visited 
Glullo's Casino della Grotta, located In the northeast cor- 
ner, — externally but a plain little stucco dwelling, with a 
rear enclosure. I entered first a vestibule, with a ceiling 
covered with pretty arabesques, by Giovanni da Udine; be- 
hind this lay a square chamber with a celling of large coffers, 
painted by Glullo's pupils with emblematic figures and scenes 
from Roman life, — one of which, portraying the self-sacri- 
fice of Regulus, provided the name of Saletta di Regolo. 
To right from the vestibule extended the main hoggetta, — 
a long, arched loggia opening upon the enclosed garden In 
rear; It preserved the original mosaic pavement, and was 
charmingly frescoed from end to end by Glullo's disciples, 
after his cartoons, — the walls being covered with daintiest 
and most varied grotesques, set off by occasional stucco me- 
dallions, the broad cornice gilded upon all Its relievo, the 
vaulting aglow with eleven large panels depicting the different 



540 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

ages of man, divided by courses of gilt foliation. Upon the 
long wall hung also three framed pictures by Giulio him- 
self, representing mythological scenes ; while over the central, 
and largest, — ruined by restoration — I noticed two curious, 
small panels from his hand, decorative groups of bacchantes, 
sphinxes, tigers and other animals. 

The restricted garden was divided into four little flower- 
beds; and roundabout its brown stucco walls ran a pleasing 
arcaded frieze, with grimacing Hermes that upheld the cor- 
nice ; the arches were once filled with graceful reliefs, of which 
but few now remained. At its rear end stood the Grotta 
proper, a large pile of imitation-rocks, covering a sort of cave 
entered by a narrow door; this was square in shape, with 
a fountain (now dry) at each angle, and an alcove at one 
side containing three more fountains; most of the original 
decoration of mother-of-pearl and mosaic was vanished, but 
the roughened stucco work and stalactites gave a hint of its 
general effect in those days when the ladles of the court 
sought this cool refuge from the summer sun. Isabella is 
believed to have been the prime instigator and habituee of 
the place, — whence it is often called after her. For many 
years the secluded retirement of the Casino and its garden 
was favoured by the dukes, and countless were " the festi- 
vals, receptions, audiences, dinners, spectacles, orgies, of 
which the Mantuan chronicles speak as having taken place 
in this little play-house of delights." ^ 

Despite the vast sums expended by the Gonzaghi on the 
Palazzo del Te, and the endless riches lavished by them on 
the Reggia, an almost equal amount of treasure and artistic 
labours was poured forth, from age to age, on that wondrous 
circle of country-houses scattered far and near over Mantuan 

'^ Giovanni Battista Intra. 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 541 

territory, — so many more famous jewels in the lustrous 
Gonzaga crown, whose number was constantly added to, 
and whose brilliancy was ever increased. With the fall of 
their owners and protectors, however, they were soon 
stripped and suffered to decay. Not one remains to give 
us a conception of those celebrated artistic and rural beau- 
ties, to whose enjoyment the ducal family devoted so much 
time in villeggiatura, with so many magnificent fetes for the 
entertainment of distinguished guests. Their names alone 
linger, in the pages of Gonzaga annals. Before the days 
of the Te, we hear of the ancient castle of Gonzaga, the 
grim cradle of the race; of the villa of Goito, which Lo- 
dovico II adorned and resorted to, with his good spouse 
Barbara and their throng of children; of the Villa Porto, 
farther down the Mincio, where Isabella used to repair in 
the early years of her married life, and which she so loved 
that Gianfrancesco made her a present of it, and she spent 
much time and money in its adornment; of the Villa Sac- 
chetta, where Isabella and her children several times sought 
refuge when the plague was ravaging the city; and of the 
splendid Marmirolo, which was Gianfrancesco's delight, and 
whose name alone shows its richness. 

Marmirolo stood several miles northwest of Mantua, on 
the farther edge of the private forest of the Gonzaghi, — 
a spacious, noble wood of oaks and poplars, stocked with 
deer and boar, called the Bosco della Fontana; it is still 
intact, the property of the crown. " In February [1494] 
— says the chronicler — " we find Isabella engaging in hunt- 
ing-parties and theatricals at Marmirolo, that superb country- 
house which Francesco G. delighted to adorn. Mantegna's 
son had painted a series of Triumphs on canvas [for it] and 
both this artist and the Veronese master, Bonsignori, were 



542 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

now engaged in decorating certain halls with views of Greek 
and Turkish cities." ^ The Marquis continued to embellish 
the villa while he lived, and its fame was wide-spread. 
Vincenzo I erected a fanciful castle in the centre of the 
wood, at the heart of its radiating alleys; and there " fetes, 
dinners, dances, hunting parties, succeeded one another, 
making of the park a place of delicious sojourn." ^ The 
same prince built on the northern shore of the lake, under 
Viani's designing, the celebrated Palazzo della Favorita, 
at once the largest and most ornate of all the Gonzaga 
villas, which was called the Versailles of Mantua; its fres- 
coes, marbles, and treasures of art were innumerable, and its 
extensive gardens along the water's edge were a marvel of 
natural beauties, studded with temples, fountains and statu- 
ary. It became the favourite residence of the Duke and his 
successors, — whence the name. A single wing of the great 
ruin still stands, and some of its marbles repose in the 
Museo Civico. 

The villas of Maderno, Rovere, Cavriana, Saviolo, and 
various others, all played their parts in Gonzaga history, 
shone more or less brilliantly, and left nothing behind them 
worthy of a glance. But that which is decidedly worthy of 
a visit, and one of the most interesting buildings on Mantuan 
territory, is the Gonzaga pilgrimage-church, called S. Maria 
delle Grazie, which Francesco IV constructed In 1399, in 
pursuance of a vow. It stands about 3 miles west of the 
city, on the highway to Cremona, close by the battleground 
of Montanara, — marked by a monument, — where 5,000 
Tuscans held at bay 20,000 Austrians on May 29, 1848. 
The church is a brick and terracotta edifice of pleasing gothic 
lines, consisting of a spacious nave with side-chapels; over 
the arched entrances to the latter two rows of niches, sep- 

8 Julia Cartwright's "Isabella d'Este." » G.B.Intra. 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 543 

arated by varied columns, run along each side-wall; and 
in these are posed the most extraordinary throng of wax 
and wooden figures, 44 in all, fully dressed in the costumes 
and armour of different periods, and naturally coloured. 
They represent healed invalids, persons saved from danger, 
warriors, princes, kings and churchmen, — including Fede- 
rigo II of Gonzaga, and Emperor Charles V; they were given 
by visiting dignitaries, and devotees who wished to fulfil 
a vow or believed themselves saved by the Virgin; they 
are bad artistically, but very odd and amusing, the tale of 
each being told by some crude verses underneath. Further 
ex-voto offerings of the usual kinds are also in evidence, in 
large numbers. 

Several of the Gonzaghi were buried here, but they have 
no noticeable monument, save the marble tabernacle over 
the high-altar which is a memorial of the 17th century 
prince, Ercole. There is a handsome Renaissance tomb of 
1489 to Bernardino Corradi; and three good canvases are 
seen, by Lor. Costa, Borgani, and Fr. Bonsignori. But the 
most interesting relic of all is the monument of Baldassare 
Castiglione, in the first chapel to right, — designed by Giulio 
Romano, with a stilted epitaph by Bembo. Under this 
handsome tomb of red marble, supported by columns, the 
author of the " Cortegiano " lies beside his much beloved 
young wife, Ippolita; he died in Spain in 1529, was brought 
home to his aged mother in the neighbouring castle of 
Casatico, where he had been born (9 miles to the west), and 
she removed his body hither. 

Amongst the environs of Mantua there are two places 
whose historical interest much precedes the epoch of the 
Gonzaghi, and which receive many visitors. One Is Vir- 
gil's birthplace, the village of Andes — now Pietole — on 
the Mincio near its egress from the lakes; where the Man- 



544 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

tuans pour forth every 15th of October, to celebrate the 
fesia of the poet's birth with music, contests, and merry- 
making. The house and little garden that were considered 
in the Renaissance to have been Virgil's, were acquired by 
Vittorino da Feltre, and used in his scheme of education. 
Today the place of the bard's dwelling is but an empty 
field, marked by a small monument surrounded by oaks and 
laurels, and crowned with an iron statue by Paganini. — 
The other historical spot is the mediaeval monastery of S. 
Benedetto, founded by Tedaldo di Canossa in 984, and 
aggrandised by Matilda into one of the richest retreats in 
Europe; it lies about 10 miles southeast of Mantua, on the 
southern bank of the Po. The Benedictines were expelled 
by the French in 1798, their countless artistic treasures were 
scattered from Paris to Padua, and of their priceless books 
and manuscripts — to which Matilda had greatly contributed 
— but a portion was saved for the library of Mantua; but 
the imposing church which Giulio Romano remodelled about 
1540, still stands amongst the ancient cloisters. 

One sees the noble, colonnaded forecourt added by Giulio, 
the original gothic-vaulted nave, the later, coffered aisles, 
flanked by ten chapels, and the numerous frescoes upon walls 
and roof done by Giulio's assistants; these were not care- 
fully painted, — but the five panels of stucco reliefs by Scul- 
tori, on the vaulting of the choir, are charming works. The 
aisles continue around the choir, in impressive fashion, and 
its stalls are elaborately sculptured. In the chapels one 
notices, among many lesser canvases, the fine picture of the 
Redeemer alleged to be by the hand of Titian, and a copy 
of Giulio's lost " Christ with the Apostles amidst the 
storm," which he executed for the abbey. In the ambu- 
latory stands a richly carved Renaissance monument (1528) 
to Cesare Arzago, benefactor of the monks. The adjoining 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 545 

sacristy is a handsome edifice by Glulio, adorned upon its 
vaulting with an octagonal fresco from his own hand, repre- 
senting the Transfiguration; and in its antechamber one be- 
holds what is left of the original tomb of Countess Matilda, 
— the sarcophagus of alabaster, supported by four red-marble 
lions, in which her body lay till it was taken to Rome in 
1634. The surmounting canopy and angels are a later 
addition, also the picture by Farinata showing Matilda on 
horseback. The lions were substituted about 1450 for the 
primary slender columns, which were giving way. — One 
finds a final interest in the three ancient cloisters, of which 
that of S. Simone is the oldest, dating from the loth cen- 
tury. 

About 10 miles east of S. Benedetto, on this southern shore, 
lies Rovere, the site of an important Gonzaga villa; at the 
same distance southwest lies the village of Gonzaga itself, 
the birthplace of the race ; and as far again beyond the latter, 
facing upon the Po, stands the town of Guastalla, where the 
younger branch reigned as dukes long after the elder had 
perished. It is a thriving small city of 11,000 inhabitants; 
but the ducal palaces are ruined, and little remains of their 
long lordship but a bronze statue of Ferdlnando I in the 
main piazza. These places are not worth a visit; but that 
which, to me at least, forms an enjoyable day's excursion from 
Mantua, is a visit to the village of Canedole, with its famed 
model-estate of the Baron Franchetti. This embraces over 
5,000 acres, which have been developed within a few years to 
an astonishing degree of fertility and profit-bearing by the use 
of steam-ploughs, hydraulic engines, and all the latest agricul- 
tural systems and inventions. In the centre, near the old 
village, is the so-called Corte di Canedole, the Baron's model 
colony, shaped into a vast rectangle that houses more than 
3,000 contadinij — the disciplined workers of the estate; these 



546 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

fortunate people, living happily under ideal conditions, labour 
with the strict orderliness of an army. The master himself 
watches over all from his handsome residence fronting the 
entrance of the great court. The numerous model barns, 
granaries, machine-shops, dairies, and stables sheltering hun- 
dreds of oxen, horses, cows, etc., have been an inestimable 
revelation to Lombards of the possibilities of their land.^'^ 

Of all the day-excursions to be taken from Mantua, how- 
ever, by far the most interesting is that to Sabbioneta, which 
should be missed by no traveller who can possibly afford the 
8 or 9 hours required. It lies about 20 miles to the south- 
west, within the great southern curve of the Po, some five 
miles northeast of Casalmaggiore ; — a deserted, fossil-like 
town of a few hundred inhabitants, dwelling ghost-like 
within the massive walls and Renaissance palaces of a dead 
city of lOjOOO souls. It is a veritable sleeping castle, without 
a princess, — an unburied. Renaissance Pompeii, conserving 
all unaltered, in its forgotten corner of the plain, the forti- 
fications, palaces, gardens, colonnades, casinos, churches, of 
the highest period of the classic revival, which were built and 
adorned by one of the most cultured of Gonzaga princes. 
■ Sabbioneta belonged to the small principality of Bozzolo — 
lO miles to its north, midway on the highroad from Mantua 
to Cremona — which was sliced off from Mantuan territory, 
like Guastalla, and ruled for several generations by a younger 
branch of the Gonzaghi. From 153 1 to 1591 Vespasiano 
Gonzaga was Principe of Bozzolo, but made Sabbioneta his 
residence; and in emulation of the glory of his cousins at 
Mantua, he spent his life in reconstructing and embellishing 
the place according to the approved methods, increasing its 

10 See final chapter in " Plain-Towns of Italy," on the decline of 
Lombard agriculture, and viniculture. 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 547 

size to 10,000 flourishing people, and surrounding it with 
mighty walls of the strongest pattern. 

Vespasiano was a learned man, a true lover of art, and an 
enthusiast for monumental building and decoration; he was 
also a noted general, having commanded with conspicuous 
success the armies of Charles V and Philip 11. He almost 
bankrupted his little state in his building-operations, using 
the best artists that he could procure, and sparing no ex- 
pense for which he could raise the money; he erected a 
magnificent palace, a grand, arcaded art-gallery, a library, 
a mint, a printing-house, a bank of exchange, a hospital, a 
monte di pieta, a beautiful summer-house amidst elaborate 
gardens, and one of the two earliest theatres of the Renais- 
sance, designed by Scamozzi ; besides lesser palaces, churches, 
schools, porticoes, casinos, tempietti, and classic structures of 
every kind; all of which were adorned as befitted a prince 
of the house of Gonzaga. In fact, he rebuilt the whole town, 
laying it out on broad, straight streets at right angles. Surely 
never was so much princely state crowded into so small a 
space. It was a Renaissance capital in miniature, but of the 
highest type. When Vespasiano's line soon thereafter ex- 
pired, Sabbioneta returned to the oblivion from which he had 
raised it; forgotten in its corner, the inhabitants departing, 
it slowly died away within its ponderous walls, and the 
abandoned classic edifices crumbled one by one. But the 
chief of them still stand, more or less ruinous, raising their 
lofty fagades above the deserted, silent streets, through which 
the few remaining people flit like shadows of the past. 
Nothing more strange, more unique, or more interesting is 
to be found in all north Italy than this petrified, sleeping, 
vacuous microcosm of cinquecento architecture. 

It is easily reached from Mantua by driving, or by the 



548 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

steam-tramway to Vfadana. I chose the latter method, re- 
pairing early one morning to its station beside the Porta 
Pradella, and starting over the southern fen-land in a jerky, 
rattling train of two little coaches, which crept along the 
highways at 8 or lO miles an hour. The stops were so fre- 
quent, moreover, that the journey lengthened itself to 3 
hours. Once out of the marsh-land the country was very 
thickly settled, and highly cultivated; and it seemed as if 
the villages were almost continuous. They were prosperous, 
comfortable-looking villages, more advanced than in most 
parts of Italy; yet they still adhered to the ancient method 
of crowding their stuccoed dwellings closely together upon 
narrow streets, — through which we were obliged to proceed 
very slowly. The countryside was delightfully lovely, all 
the way, from the luxuriance of its vegetation ; the mulberry 
trees covered it like an endless blanket of the brightest green, 
amongst which the peasants were picking another crop of 
leaves for the silk-worms; beneath the trees grew wheat, for 
the most part, with occasional variations. Indian corn was 
singularly wanting in this section, and the vine far rarer than 
usual. 

After more than two hours we passed the good-sized Del- 
mona River, at the town of Commessaggio, the largest en 
route; here I observed to the left an imposing brick chateau, 
picturesque in form and apparently in fair condition, which, 
I was informed, had been formerly Gonzaga property. 
Doubtless it was a villa of the Bozzolo branch, into whose 
domains I was now entering. Another 40 minutes of slow 
progress brought us finally to a stop near the southern gate 
of Sabbioneta, whose mighty brick walls, darkened by time 
and the damp of the slimy moat, loomed directly before me 
as I descended. Perfectly preserved, they swept straight 
away on each hand behind their broad, stagnant fosse, to 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 549 

jutting towers at some distance; their lofty summit, planted 
with vines climbing upon serried sticks, concealed all build- 
ings within; and to the south stretched the open country 
with its mulberry groves, showing not a sign of habitation. 
The train disappeared, — and I felt as if I had stepped off 
into the land of Nowhere. The tower to the west, however, 
proved to be the main town-gate, now called the Porta Venti 
Settembre : a large, square, ponderous structure of grey stone, 
pierced by three deep archways, of which the smaller two for 
foot-passengers had been blocked up. Above the central 
arch I observed an inscription of " Vespasianus — Dux," 
with his shield of arms. 

Crossing the bridge and traversing the tunnel-entrance, I 
found a short street behind it that led me northward for 
a block between evidently deserted houses; a live human 
being then appeared, looking strangely out of place; but 
following his directions, I turned eastward for another block, 
then northward upon what proved the principal thorough- 
fare, — the Via Giulia, so named by Vespasiano after his 
aunt, a Gonzaga princess of celebrated beauty. Sabbioneta, 
I found, is practically square in shape^ with but two in- 
gresses, in the middle of its northern and southern walls; 
and this street connects the two gates, passing a block to the 
west of the main piazza, and traversing midway the second 
large open space, — the Piazza d'Armi. After walking, 
therefore, through several blocks of aged, stuccoed, crumbling 
dwellings of two and three storeys, looking mostly abandoned, 
and enlivened (?) only by a few dead little shops, I reached 
this Piazza d'Armi, extending to the left of the way. 

In front of the grass-grown field stood a modern monu- 
ment of the Ris.orgimento, consisting of a fluted corinthian 
column topped by a mutilated female figure; even in this 
fossil of a town they woke up over Italy's freedom. Along 



550 LOMB.ARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

the left side of the deep area extended an extraordinary struc- 
ture, — a sort of elongated, two-storied loggia, of unplastered 
brick, in good renaissance lines; the ground storey was a 
long succession of arches sustained on coupled square piers, 
forming a covered promenade; the enclosed upper floor was 
adorned with a row of corresponding arches in relief, divided 
by pilasters with niches, and holding small oblong windows ; 
while it was crowned by a ponderous cornice. This edifice, I 
learned, was Vespasiano's art-gallery. A tiny marble temple, 
of Greek doric form, projected from the centre of its fagade, 
showing his shield of arms. From its back end another and 
more ruinous building stretched across the rear of the field, — 
Vespasiano's summer residence, the Palazzo del Giardino ; 
so-called from the once beautiful gardens behind it. 

Keeping on up Via Giulia, I soon reached on the right 
side an imposing Renaissance palace of better preservation; 
it was Scamozzi's theatre. The 8 rusticated windows of 
the ground storey were boarded up; those of the upper 
floor bore cornices broken in the middle by oval roundels 
for vanished busts, and alternated with niches for statues, 
charmingly framed in egg-and-dart mouldings; above them 
ran a doric frieze and cornice. It was of course all stucco- 
work, but nevertheless quite effective. Turning past this 
to the right, a block's eastward progress brought me into 
the main Piazza, now renamed after Garibaldi; it was 
a spacious paved square, remaining unaltered, save by de- 
cay, from Gonzaga days. Handsome renaissance arcades 
stretched upon the western and southern sides; that on 
the south being supported on doric columns, and surmounted 
by a single floor, that on the west being upheld by square, 
rusticated, stone pillars, with two upper storeys, entirely 
shut up and deserted. On the east side, next the southern 
arcade, stood the parochial church rebuilt by Vespasiano, 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 551 

showing a curious stone fagade of red and grey blocks like 
a checker board; over Its baroque portal opened a large 
circular window, topped by a gable; at Its left side rose a 
pink, stuccoed campanile, with a very rococo belfry and 
lantern. North from this extended a row of several old 
stucco buildings In an advanced state of decay. 

On the north side stood the Palazzo Ducale, long used 
by the municipality, and now called the Palazzo Municipale, 
— to which fact Is due Its preservation : a two-storied stucco 
edifice, of a light lavender hue, in dignified, well-balanced, 
renaissance lines, its heavy cornice surmounted in the middle 
by a short, square tower. The ground storey was an im- 
posing arcade, of large arches rusticated In Imitation of stone, 
balustraded between the piers, except the central arch which 
was approached by a broad flight of steps; the oblong win- 
dows overhead were crowned with alternate pediments and 
rounded cornices, and the middle one was faced by a balus- 
traded rmghiera-hdlconj. — ^The piazza Itself was paved partly 
in brick, partly in cobbles, between which the grass was 
sprouting; over its broad sunlit space not a sign of life was 
visible, and save for the solitary little shop m one of the 
dilapidated eastern buildings, It might be a city of the dead. 

I entered the hallway of the palace, and after some look- 
ing about unearthed Its custodian, Angelo Bergonzl by name, 
who proved to be a man of considerable Intelligence and 
knowledge of the town; he carries the keys of the various 
buildings, and any visitor can do no better than procure his 
services also as general cicerone. He led me up the grand 
stairway at the end of the hall, into the spacious S alone del 
Cavalli at the rear of the piano nobile, looking back upon 
the restricted courtyard; this was the entrance-hall to the 
grand public suite. Around Its upper walls extended a series 
of 12 large recesses, constructed for the equestrian statues 



552 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

of Vespasiano and his direct ancestors, going back to Luigi I 
of Mantua: four of them still remained, — lifesize wooden 
figures, painted and gilded, and fairly lifelike for such work. 
They represented Vespasiana himself, Aloysius Marchio, 
Lodovico, and Gianf rancesco ; the first appearing as a tall 
man of dignified presence, and a wise and resolute face. 
The lofty roof was divided by heavy beams into 9 large 
compartments, each filled with small coffers painted with de- 
signs in grey, white and black. The broad and striking 
frieze — said the custode — was a work of the brilliant 
Cremonese artist, Bernardino Campi : three huge black eagles 
on each side carried bulky festoons of fruits and flowers, and 
charming caryatidae stood in the angles. There was true 
genius in the novelty and effectiveness of this bright-hued 
decoration; and the equestrian statues made the hall still 
more impressive. 

Adjacent on the east I observed a small chamber with a 
finely carved wooden ceiling, having the device of Vespasiano 
in the centre, — a shield crossed diagonally by the word 
" Libertas," upheld by two lions rampant; here also was an 
interesting relic of his ducal furniture, — a heavy wooden 
table, curiously painted with designs. Proceeding north- 
ward from this room, down the rear wing extending along 
the east side of the courtyard, we reached, after traversing 
a couple of chambers bare of interest, one covered by an oak 
ceiling of magnificent sculpture, richly intricate in its deep 
coffering; the central panel bore an angel holding the device 
of the shield, with a border of wreathed fruits and flowers 
fully a foot thick. Here, and through most of the rooms, 
were the modern furniture and hangings used by the town- 
officials. The succeeding chamber, at the end, bore another 
beautiful cinquecento oak ceiling, with octagonal Coffers 4 
feet in diameter, and graceful pendants; after which, In rear 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 553 

of the court, came a long hall roofed with rectangular cof- 
fering of oak, whose large central rosettes terminated in 
natural bunches of grapes. The condition of these rare 
ceilings was far better than those of the Reggia. 

Returning to the entrance-hall, we stepped into the front, 
central chamber behind the ringhieraj — a long, narrow apart- 
ment with lofty vaulting, elaborately decorated: down its 
middle extended three oval paintings, — of Phaeton in his 
chariot, flanked by two warriors; on each slope were four 
panels of pleasing stucM, in white on black, showing scenes 
of Roman warriors ; — the best being a sacrifice before a 
throned Caesar. Between these, on each slope, were three 
square panels of frescoed landscapes, now quite ruined. The 
two Gonzaga busts formerly ornamenting the side doorways 
were gone, but the elaborate frieze remained, consisting of 
heroic, stuccoed, half-figures of Gonzaga princes and prin- 
cesses, posed in high relief within separate compartments, un- 
der-written by appropriate descriptions. These were not 
very well done. 

To the right opened the noble Sala dei Busti, having an- 
other broad frescoed frieze, with two Gonzaga busts perched 
upon corbels on each side, before shell-like roundels; its 
ornate wooden ceiling was divided into 9 compartments, 
richly carved, — the central of which bore the painted device 
of Vespasiano, held by genii, and the others contained various 
emblems of the Gonzaghi. This was the " Gran Sala " of 
the palace, used nowadays for the meetings of the town- 
council. — ^The remaining rooms of this floor being bare of 
artistic relics, we descended to the court, and examined the 
ground storey of the rear wing, in which the town grammar- 
school has of late generations been housed. Here I saw the 
Sala del Divertimento del Duca, — really two rooms, united 
by an archway, — filled now with tiers of ink-stained desks 



554 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

and benches. The two exquisite, gilded, wooden ceilings 
were perfectly preserved, with beautifully moulded panels 
containing Vespasiano's device, or rosettes ending in bunches 
of grapes; below them extended gilded friezes and cornices. 
The very handsome ducal fireplace still stood, made of red- 
veined creamy marble below, with a single lion's forepaw 
on each side, surmounted by the beast's head and flowing 
mane; above, it was of baroque stucco construction, with 
gilded relievo J — consisting of Vespasiano's shield surrounded 
by delicate foliations and Roman trophies. Such a fireplace 
is absolutely priceless today. 

Adjacent on the south lay the second schoolroom, with a 
delightful Giulio-Romano-like ceiling; its large, square, cen- 
tral panel held a nearly vanished fresco that looked like 
Venus and Adonis; all around which, to the descending 
spandrels at the sides, were charming masses of grotesques, 
interspersed with a number of small scenic panels on black 
ground, fairly well preserved. On each corner-spandrel 
were a couple of very red cherubs, playing with an animal, — 
also in good condition ; but the frescoed tableaux in the three 
lunettes at the sides were practically undecipherable. These 
elegant apartments were part of the private suites of the 
prince. Local legend attaches the name of Bernardino Campi 
to their ornamentations, but it was doubtless Antonio Campi, 
who alone of that family decorated in this delightful fashion ; 
he and his assistants are probably responsible also for the 
Sala dei Cavalli, and at least the painted features of the 
other chambers.^^ 

Beside the palace, on the west, I noticed on departing the 
curious brick Palazzo dell' Olio, with a receding basement of 
heavy granite blocks, a stone-arched portal, and 3 tiers of 

11 The name of Alberto Cavalli is also associated with this work 
by some authorities. 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 555 

heavily corniced windows. Following my guide's directions, 
I took the short street leading north by the right side of the 
Municipio, which brought me in one block to the quaint 
little " Albergo del Sole;^^ this was primitive indeed, with 
only a kitchen on the right and an eating-room on the left; 
but it was clean, and the lunch which they gave me was 
thoroughly palatable. I climbed the ladder-stairs in rear to 
the few guest-rooms, finding them of the simplicity of patri- 
archal times, but with clean, comfortable beds. 

After a short rest I sallied forth again, stepping across 
first to the large church of the Incoronata, which rises imme- 
diately east of the inn ; it was the family church of Vespasiano 
and his successors, built and decorated by him, together with 
the adjoining nunnery of nursing sisters, which was the 
ducal hospital (now the Ospedale Civico). I saw a tall, 
octagonal drum of unplastered brick, faced by a lower, two- 
storied vestibule of white stucco, looking westward over the 
little " Piazza Vespasiano," — on whose north side sat the 
albergo. Three large stucco archways resting on doric mar- 
ble columns, formed the portico. At its left rose the stuccoed 
campanile J to a double-arched belfry and an octagonal lantern. 
Beside this was a doorway into the adjacent cloister of the 
hospital; through which, the front entrance being closed, I 
was admitted by a sister into the body of the church. 

This proved to be, as the exterior intimated, in the style 
of Bramante, — a two-storied domed rotunda of harmonious 
lines, with ornamental depressed arches on each of its eight 
sides ; three of these, toward the front, held entrances, — the 
smaller ones at the sides being topped by music lofts; the 
rear archway framed the high-altar-recess, that upon its left 
contained the splendid mausoleum of Vespasiano, and the 
other three held subsidiary altars. Around the second storey 
circled the customary Bramantesque gallery, formed by two 



556 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

arches on each side, whose pillars rose from balustrades that 
were constructed entirely of stucco painted a deep chocolate 
hue, — perhaps in imitation of brown marble; corresponding 
to each arch was a window at the back of the gallery. From 
the cornice of this storey sprang the slopes of the dome, fres- 
coed with an elaborate architectural scheme, having supposed 
niches and statues ; and from the crowning lantern fell a long 
shaft of shimmering light. It was almost exactly similar to 
the fine edifices of Battaggia at Lodi and Crema, — exceed- 
ingly graceful, and yet imposing. 

The paintings, however, did not compare with those 
churches, being poor works of the decadence. But the mag- 
nificent monument of the Duke was a host in itself, dominat- 
ing the whole enclosure with its stately form and its sheen 
of bright-hued marbles. The sarcophagus is of brown vein- 
ing, with white and yellow trimmings, surmounted by a 
baroque entablature; upon it sits the lifesize bronze 
statue of the prince, within a niche flanked by handsome 
Corinthian columns; at his sides in smaller niches are two 
female figures of marble, — " Justice " and " Fortitude." 
Vespasiano is represented in the garb of a Roman general, 
with one hand outstretched, — in recognition of his fame 
as a soldier; the head resembles Marcus Aurelius, and the 
whole figure is most lifelike and princely. This superb mon- 
ument was executed by that fine artist, Giov. Batt. della 
Porta, with the aid of Leone Leoni, who did the bronze 
work. 

Departing through the cloistered garden, — a pleasant 
place, with its flowerbeds, gravelled walks, and surrounding 
arcades on stuccoed pillars, — I returned to the Via Giulia, a 
block to the west, and followed it to its end close by, at the 
northern town-gate. This bulky old tower was picturesque: 
its first storey, arching the deep passage, was of rusticated 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 557 

granite blocks ; its second — on the inside — was an open 
loggia supported on four stuccoed brick pillars, piled high 
with firewood, lumber, old wagons and other discarded things. 
Without lay the green, slimy moat, shaded by willows and 
plane-trees, with grasses and innumerable scarlet poppies 
growing all over the dark decaying walls ; a chorus of crickets 
chirped from the water's edge, larks and thrushes twittered 
from the meadows, and from an adjacent field, where peas- 
ants were gathering hay, a pure baritone voice was singing 
an air from " La Traviata." 

Returning southward on Via Giulia, I rejoined my cicerone 
at the theatre of Scamozzi, which we at once entered. It 
is an important historical relic, being coeval with Palladio's 
classic theatre at Vicenza, — which Scamozzi completed after 
the latter's death, in 1584, — and considerably earlier than 
the Farnese theatre at Parma (1618-28). But I found it 
much smaller than either of those, and in wretched condition, 
— the stage being entirely destroyed, and the proscenium-arch 
consisting only of a painted canvas, now dropping to pieces. 
The seats were tiers of simple benches, rising to a classic 
exedra composed of 12 Corinthian marble columns, connected 
by a balustrade and a stucco entablature; upon the latter 
stood a dozen lifesize plaster statues of Greek divinities, more 
or less broken and dilapidated. The enclosing walls re- 
tained their original poor frescoing, of an architectural scheme 
with niches, holding supposed statues of a horrible reddish- 
yellow hue. It was sad to behold in this state the place that 
was once the scene of such princely gatherings and momentous 
revivals of the histrionic art. 

We proceeded thence to that other ruin, the Palazzo del 
Giardino, which Vespasiano had decorated by the Campi, 
and various other artists of the first rank. Several of the 
ground-floor apartments still remained habitable, being occu- 



558 LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

pied by a peasant who tilled the ground of the former garden ; 
amidst those remnants of lavish beauty in stucchi and fres- 
coing, dwelt beings to whom it spoke never a word, who 
every week defaced another priceless artistic relic, unseeing, 
thoughtless. Yet they were kind-hearted people, and ad- 
mitted me to their living-room, where, enclosing their 
poverty-stricken furniture, rose walls and a ceiling covered 
with charming embellishments of the Campi. The cornice 
and the mouldings of the vaulting were delicately wrought 
in stucco; the central square panel, the 4 ovals on the slopes, 
and others in the corners, were all painted with decorative 
figures, now badly decayed; below the cornice were 8 shell- 
like roundels in the angles, with empty corbels that once 
held marble busts. Add in fancy the handsome tapestries, 
the gilt furniture and precious ornaments, and one has a 
fair picture of this ground-floor suite of the Duke, — which 
was doubtless devoted to his duties as a ruler. 

The remains in the adjacent chambers were similar in 
style, but too fragmentary to mention. We mounted the 
old stone stairs at the southern end, and inspected the aban- 
doned piano nobile, finding a succession of gaily stuccoed and 
painted ceilings, more or less faded and broken, — exposed to 
all inclemencies of the weather by the paneless, sashles.s 
windows. The first room, proceeding north along the fagade, 
was the so-called Sala dei Cesari, formerly adorned with 
busts of Roman emperors, and correlative paintings, of which 
very little remained; the second was the Sala dei Giuochi 
O limpid, so called from the two interesting frescoes of Olym- 
pian chariot-races, still fairly clear, showing the competitors, 
the banked audience, and the line of marble monuments 
dividing the course. Both of these rooms conserved their 
original mosaic pavements. In the third, the Sala delle Im- 
prescj the paintings were still better: in the centre of the 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 559 

charming vaulting is seen what appears to be a Venus fondling 
a noble horse, — probably intended for Bellerophon with 
Pegasus, — and roundabout this are the Fall of Phaeton, 
the Fall of Icarus, and other daring undertakings of an- 
tiquity; the admirable frieze depicts eagles and caryatides 
with festoons, — betraying the same hand that embellished the 
Sala dei Cavalli. 

Next came a delightful little domed rotunda, animated 
by frescoed scenes with many small figures, on all sides, its 
vaulting made attractive by numbers of playful putti, and 
graceful white stucchi on tinted ground. Here, and in the 
adjacent corridor, lingered the original handsome pavement 
of coloured marbles. There succeeded in rear the spacious 
Sala degli Specchi^ or ballroom, — now stripped of its mir- 
rors, and with its richly carved wooden roof quite ruined; 
the extensive wall-decorations of painting and stucchi were 
likewise reduced to fragments. Yet what a superb hall it 
must formerly have been; what glittering assemblies it 
had sheltered, resplendent in the silken, jewelled court-dresses 
of the late Renaissance ! — Finally, at the southern end of 
the rear suite, appeared the winsome little Gabinetto del 
Bagno, adorned with grotesques over all its walls, — its vault- 
ing one mass of convoluted stucco foliage, centered by a fine 
Medusa's head. Here again I noticed the original beautiful 
marble pavement, reticulated in shades of dark grey, red, 
and white. 

From this southern end of the palace the Galleria branched 
off to the east; and I stepped now into its long, unbroken 
interior, that once was so famous for the harmony of its 
decorations and the beauty of its sculptures; for here Ves- 
pasiano gathered more than icx) precious antique marbles, — 
" statues, torsoes, busts, heads, reliefs, vases, cinerary urns 
of great value," — a most valued collection in those neo- 



56o LOMBARD TOWNS OF ITALY 

classic days, which connoisseurs came far to see. A good 
portion of them still remained in situ ^s late as 1779, when 
they were removed by the Austrian authorities to the Man- 
tuan museum, and the gallery was left deserted and exposed 
to the weather. I now saw, therefore, but a red-tiled floor, 
a whitened wooden roof, and a long succession of oblong 
sashless windows in the left wall, interspersed after every 
third window with a high, oval niche, — both walls being 
elsewhere covered with the faded frescoes of their quondam 
glory. These represented a continuous and grandiose archi- 
tectural scheme, in which the real openings took their part 
in fanciful frames, with an abundance of cornices, balconies, 
balustrades, gables, and a throng of painted statues of god- 
desses and amorini. The spaces between the windows, also, 
were filled with large varied devices or patterns; and from 
the windows a near view was commanded of the remarkable 
oaken cornice of the palace, which, though sadly injured, was 
still a mass of most beautiful carving, with richly foliated 
consoles, and intervening compartments adorned with rosettes, 
bucantoria, and other decorative reliefs. 

A final visit was paid by me to the interior of the 
parochial church in the piazza ; which proved to be a spacious, 
domed basilica of fair Renaissance lines, with a handsome 
chapel of the Sacrament, a number of decadent paintings, and 
two excellent marble tombs of the cinquecento (beside the 
entrance) of simple and graceful designs. — Regaining then 
the southern gate, I was just in time to catch the five o'clock 
train for Mantua; and as we rolled away from the massive, 
towered walls, it seemed to me that I was indeed returning 
from a dead and petrified city, of that splendid epoch of the 
cinquecento, which had been disturbed by no mortal foot- 
fall for three hundred years; I realised that in this sleeping 
corner of the world, strange victim of suspended animation, I 



THE ENVIRONS OF MANTUA 561 

had had an unforgettable experience, whose like would prob- 
ably never be founil again. And since this experience closed 
my journeyings through the glorious old towns of Lombardy, 
— the long months of my lingering amid the inspiring scenes 
of their heroic past, — I was returning to the present not 
merely from bygone Sabbioneta, but from that whole galaxy 
of fascinating cities of the plain, and the wondrous world of 
the Renaissance in which they hold the visitor enthralled. 



THE END 



INDEX 



Abbiate: 119. 
Abbiategrasso: 288. 
Abbate, Niccolodell': 430. 
Adalbert, Emperor: 274. 
Addi River, the: 3, 74, no, in, 

281, 283, 286, 297-8. 
Adelaide, Queen: 279. 
Agilulf, King: 82, 325. 
Agriculture of Lombardy: 73- 

4, 113-4, 116, 143, 149, 289- 

290, 387-8, 545-6. 
Aguggiari, Fra: 144, 146. 
Aignadel, Battle of: 418. 
d'Alba, Macrino: 219. 
Alaric: 222-3, 3^5' 
Alboin: 225-6. 
Alberti, Leon Battista: 401, 412, 

435, 436-7, 449, 464. 

Albert of Brandenburg, Mar- 
grave: 472. 

Aldus (or Aldo) : 414, 416. 

Aleni, Tommaso: 335, 379. 

Alessandria: 4. 
' Alessi, Gabriello: 211. 

St. Alexander (S. Alessandro) : 

3, 21. 
Alexander III, Pope: 180. 
Alzano: 69. 
Amadeo, GIov. Ant.: 41, 49-52, 

191, 198, 199, 20I, 208-9, 210, 

213-4, 216, 244, 271, 278-9, 

363-4, 366, 370, 371. 
Amati, Niccolo: 339. 
St. Ambrose (S. Ambrogio) : 

325- 
Amici, Tommaso (or Formato) : 

369- 



563 



Andes: 405, 543-4- 

Andrea da Pavia: 458. 

Andreasi, Bishop: 438. 

Andreasi (the artist) : 477. 

Andreasino: 509. 

S. Angelo Lodigiano: 286. 

d'Anguisciola, family of the, 

and Sophonisba: 339. 
Animals, domestic, of the plain: 

"5- 
Anselmi, Giorgio: 473. 
Anselmo, counsellor of Countess 

Matilda: 447. 
Antegnate: 70. 
Antharis, King: 82. 
Appiani, Andrea: 105-106. 
Aragon, Isabella of: 221, 230, 

231, 232. 
Arduino, of Ivrea: 271. 
Aribert, King: 278, 279. 
Ariberto (Heribert), Archbishop 

of Milan: 152, 178. 
Ariosto: 416, 417. 
Arnolfo, of Germany: 4. 
Arrigo II, of Germany: 271. 
Attila: 4, 152, 223, 325. 
St. Augustine: (256; Area of, 

222, 253, 254-6, 257.) 
Augustus, Emperor: 222, 405-6. 
Aureolus: 3. 
Ave Maria: 58-59. 



B 



Baldovinetti: 67. 

Balduccio, Giov.: 254. 

Bandello: 417. 

Baradello, Castle of: 179, 180. 

Barbarossa, Frederick: 4, 177- 



564 



INDEX 



i8o, 220, 228, 271-2, 282-4, 

307-9, 326. 
Barberini, G. B.: 380. 
Bartolommeo, Fra: 277. 
Battaggia, Giov. Giacomo: 298- 

9, 319- 
Bayard, Chevalier: 306. 
Basaiti: 66. 
Bassano: Jacopo; 34, 373,-Le- 

andro; 22, 60-61. 
Beauharnais, Prince Eugene, 

and Consort: 105, 426-7, 443, 

472, 533- 

Beatrice d'Este, see Este. 

Beatrice di Tenda: 195-6. 

Beccafichi: n6. 

Beccaria, the: 229, 278. 

Beggars, and begging: 53-54- 

Belfiore, the martyrs of: 428, 
442, 465, 518.^ 

Belgiojoso: (princes and town 
of, 288-9; castle of, 289; Prin- 
cess Christina Trivulzio of, 
288-9.) 

Belli, Giovanni: 17, 48. 

Bellini, Gian: 55, 67, 277, 417, 

503. 
Bellini, Gentile: 68. ^ 
Bell-tower, introduction of the: 

273- 
Bembo: (Bonifazio, 250, 252, 
335, 381; Cardinal, 414, 416, 
417, 543; Gian Francesco, 334, 

335, 361, 376, 379-) 

S. Benedetto al Po: 446-7, 544-5. 

Benzoni, the: 310. 

Berengarius I: 4, 95-6, 271. 

Berengarius II: 279. 

Bergamaschi, Giovanni: 379. 

Bergamasque Mountains: 69. 

Bergamo, Damiano and Stefano 
da: 17, 28, 47. 

Bergamo: 

Accademia Carrara, 64-69 ; 
S. Agostino, (church of, 62, 
— gate of, 63) ; Alzano, 69; S. 
Andrea, 57, 59-60; Amadeo, 
Giov. Ant., 41, 49-52; Ales- 



sandri, Cardinal Longo degli, 
tomb of, 46 ; S. Alessandro 
della Croce, 33; S. Alessan- 
dro in Colonna, 21, 22; St. 
Alexander, 3, 21 ; Art and 
artists of, i, 13-17; Aspect 
and situation of, i, 2, 19, 25 ; 
Aureolus, 3 ; Attila, 4 ; Ar- 
nolfo of Germany, 4; Baldo- 
vinetti, 67; Basaiti, 6S\ Bap- 
tistery, the, 42, 43 ; Bassano, 
(Jacopo, 34, — ^Leandro, 22, 
60-61) ; SS. Bartolomeo e 
Stefano, 26-29 ; Belli, Giov., 
17, 48; Berengarius, 4; Ber- 
gamo, Damiano and Stefano 
da, 17, 28, 47; S. Bernardino, 
32-33; Bellini, (Gian, 55, 67, 
— Gentile, 68) ; Bissolo, Pier 
Fran., 2; Boselli, Ant., 16, 47; 
Borgognone, 30, 66\ Boltraf- 
fio, 6t, Botticelli, 67; Braman- 
tino, 64; Brembana, Val, 2, 
69; Broletto, 37-39, 40; Car- 
magnola, 10; Cavagna, Pa- 
olo, 17; Capodiferro, (Gian 
Fran., 17, 48, — Pietro and 
Zanino, 17) ; Campione, (Gio- 
vanni da, 43, 45, — Ugo da, 
46); Caniana, G. B., 52-53; 
Cathedral, the, 42-43, 54-55 ; 
Castle (or Citadel) the, 56- 
57; Carpaccio, 66, 68; Caval- 
lina, Val, 69 ; Cima da Coneg- 
liano, 66, 6jy 68 ; Civerchio, 
67; Colleoni: (family of, 9, 
12; — ^Bartolomeo, 12, 36, 70- 
72, — Bart, monument of, 49- 
51, — Capella (Chapel of the), 
13, 40-41, 49-53, 198,— Luogo 
Pio, 13, 36, — Medea, tomb of, 
51-52) ; Santa Croce, Fran, 
da, i6, 34, 66, 68; Credi, 
Lorenzo, 67; Cross (or Crv\ci- 
fix) of, 48 ; Cariani, Giov., 2, 
16; Santa Croce, Gir da, 2; 
Dialect of, 26; Donizetti, 
Gaetano: (18, — theatre of, 23, 



INDEX 



S6S 



— monument of, 23, — tomb of, 
46); Donatello, 67; Duomo, 
see Cathedral ; Environs and 
Excursions, 69-72; Fantone, 
33; Francia, 68; Ferrari, 
Gaudenzio, 66; Fiera di S. 
Alessandro, 24-25 ; Gallienus, 
Emperor, 3 ; Gasparin da 
Bergamo, 17; Garibaldi, Pi- 
azza and monument of, 37-39 ; 
Galleries of, 64-69 ; Gentile 
da Fabriano, 68 ; Giorgione, 
68 ; Giordano, Luca, 46 ; S. 
Grata (3, — church of, 56) ; 
History of, 2-13; Hotel of, 
19; Hals, Franz, 68; Holbein, 
68 ; Industries of, i ; Kauf- 
mann, Angelica, 53 ; S. Leon- 
ardo, 20; Leonardo da Vinci, 
68; Lotto, Lorenzo, 2, 15, 16, 
27-28, 31, 32, 34, 61, 66, 68, 
69; Lombard League, 4; 
Lodi, Scipione da, 31 ; Mar- 
tinengo, town and family 
of, 70, 71; Malpaga, 70-72; 
Mantegna, 66^ 68 ; Mansueti, 
66, 68; Marconi, Rocco, 64; 
Mayr, Giov, Simone, tomb of, 
46; S. Maria Maggiore: 
(northern porch, 43-44, — 
southern porch, 43, 45, 55, — 
exterior, 45, — interior, 45-49, 
— choir, 47-48, — sacristy, 48-49, 
— campanile, 55, — generally, 
17, 39) I Malatesta, Pandolfo, 
9; Milan, Rule of, 4-1 1; S. 
Michele al Pozzo Bianco, 60- 
62; Morone, Fran., 34, 66; 
Moretto, 33, 59-60, 67, 68; 
Moroni, G. B., 2, 54, 66 ; 
Museum (or Museo Carrara), 
64; Napoleon the Great, 3, 
56, 58-59; Nova, Pietro and 
Paxino da, 13, 36, 46, 62; 
Palma Vecchio, 2, 14, 34, 65, 
68; Palma Giovane, 33, 65; 
Paulus, Jacopo, 62; Pisano, 
Vittore, 67; Pensaben, Fra 



Marco, 69; Pontida, Piazza, 
20, 21 ; Pontirolo, (Pons Au- 
reoli), battle of, 3; Population 
of, 2; Poscanthe, Giov. G. 
Gavasio da, 22, 32, 34; Pre- 
fettura, the, 24; Previtali, 
Andrea, 2, 14, 15, 29-30, 31, 
32, 34, 65, 66, 68 ; Raphael, 68 ; 
Rembrandt, 67; Reni, Guido, 
68 ; Romano, 70, 71, 72 ; Ro- 
manino, 21, 70, 71 ; Santa 
Croce, (Fran, da, 16, 34, 66, 
68, — Girolamo da, 2) ; Scam- 
ozzl, 37, 42, 54; Seriana, 
Val, 2, 69; Signorelli, 67; 
Siry, Sixtus, 50; S. Spirito, 
29-32; Sodoma, 67; Talpino, 
2, 17; Tarsia, and its artists, 

17, 33-34» 47-48, 52-53; Tasso, 
(Bernardo, 18, — Torquato, 
statue of, 39) ; Tarsia, chefs 
d'cewvres of, 28, 33-34, 47-48, 
52-53; Tiepolo, G. B., 50, 55; 
Topography of, 19, 20, 63; 
Trescorre, 61, 69 ; Upper city, 
(views of, 25, 26, 63, — ^views 
from, 56, 57-58, 62-64) I Vene- 
tian rule of, lo, 13; Venusti, 
Marcello, 68; Velasquez, 68 ; 
Visconti, sway of, 5-n ; Vit- 
torio Emanuele, Piazza and 
monument of, 19, 22, 23; 
Vivarini, Bart., 66; Walls of, 
see Ramparts; Zucco, Fran- 
cesco, 17. 

Bertani, G. B.: 430, 462, 473, 
496. 

Bernardo da Venezia: 198, 202. 

Bernini, Giov. Lor.: 475. 

Bissolo, Pier Fran.: 2. 

Bird-destruction: 115-116. 

Bibbiena: 414. 

Binasco: 195-6. 

Boccaccino: (Boccaccio, 333-4, 
360, 361, 362, 379, 381, 385,— 
Boccaccio II, 462, — Camillo, 
33879, 379, 398,— Fran., 395.) 

Boethius: 224-5, ^57-8, 261. 



566 



INDEX 



S. Bonifazio, Count of: 407. 

Bonifazio: 378. 

Boltraffio: 67. 

Boniface, Marquis of Canossa 
(or Tuscany) : 447. 

Bonsignori, Fran.: 458, 541, 543. 

Borgognone, Ambrogio: 30, 66, 
191, 204, 208, 209, 213, 215, 
218, 219, 298, 302-304, 306. 

Borgia, Cesare: 418. 

Borromeo, Cardinal, Saint: 98, 
247. 

Borgani: 543. 

Boscodella Fontana: 541-2. 

Boschetti, Isabella: 420, 421, 
463, 522, 527, 528. 

Boselli, Antonio: 16, 47. 

Botassi, of Milan: 293. 

Botticelli: 67. 

Bozzolo, Principality of, — see 
Sabbioneta: 546. 

Brancaforte: 440. 

Bramantino: 64. 

Bramante: 173, 180, 185, 191, 
208, 213, 231, 243-4, 262, 287, 
288. 

Briosco, Ben.: 198, 200, 211. 

Brickwork, Lombard,* master- 
pieces of: loi, 201-2, 258-260, 
309, 312-313, 315-316, 319-320, 
344-7, 350-351, 352-3, 370-1, 
459. — (See also, "Terracotta, 
chefs d'oewvres of.") 

Brusasorci: 450, 462, 466, 509. 

Brembana, Val: 2, 69. 

Brianza, Monte: (aspect of, 76- 
79, — topography of, 78, — coun- 
try-houses, and grounds, of, 
78-79, — mileggiatura, life and 
customs, 79-80.) 

Brunelleschi: 412, 432, 465. 

Buonacolsi, the: 407-9, 442-3, 
444. 

Buonfigli, of Perugia: 276. 

Buoso da Doara: 327. 

Bussola, Dionigi: 145. 

Bussolari, Jacopo de': 229, 
Busti, Agostino: 200-201. 



Butti: 180. 

Busto Arsizio: 

Artistic importance of, 171 ; 
Aspect and location of, 172; 
Beata Juliana, statue of 173; 
Bramante, 173 ; Electric plant 
and power of, 171; Ferrari, 
Gaudenzio, 174-177; S. Gio- 
vanni, Piazza and church of, 
172-173; Lanini, Bern., 175; 
Luini, Bern., 175; S. Maria, 
church of, 173-177; Popula- 
tion of, 172; Railways to, 112, 
117, 171. 



Cacciatori delle Alpi: 136. 

Cairoli, the: (family and his- 
tory of, 253, 265-6, — ^monu- 
ment to, the, 265-6.) 

Campione: (Giovanni da, 43, 
45, — Matteoda, 83, 86, 88, 95, 
254, — Ugo da, 46, — Boninoda, 
250,254.) 

Campi, the, (history, school, and 
works of) : 293, 317-8, 321, 
322, 335-7, 370, 372, 375, 380, 
385, 386, 393, 395, 396-9, 430, 
438,_ 552-554, 557-559- 

Campi: (Galeazzo, 317, 335, 
379, 380; Antonio, 317, 336, 
337, 362, 367, 368j 369, 372, 

375, 376, 393, 395, 552-4, 
557-9; Vincenzo, 317, 337, 
375; Felice, 474; Bernardino, 
215, 317-8, 336, 337, 362, 378, 
379, 397-8, 552-4, 557-9-) 

Campi, Giulio, (see also under 
Mantua) : 317, 322, 335-6, 337, 
367, 368, 372, 373, 376, 381-2, 
385, 393-4, 395, 396-9, 430. 

Canals, and canal-system, of 
Lombardy: 110-112, 195. 

Canals, irrigating: 290. 

Caniana, G. B.: 52-53. 

Canossa: (Count Tebaldo of, — 
see Tebaldo; Countess Ma- 



INDEX 



567 



tilda of, (of Tuscany), — see 

Matilda.) 
Canedole: 545-6. 
Capilupo: 431. 
Capodif error Gian Francesco, 

Pietro, and Zanino, 17, 48. 
Cariani, Giovanni: 2, 16. 
Carmagnola: 10, 76, 83, 321, 

329-330- 

Carpaccio: 66, 68. 

Carroccio, the: 178-179, 182-183. 

Carew, Sir Nicholas: 236. 

Caroto: 458, 466. 

Caravaggio, Fermo da: 493. 

Caravaggino: 533, 537. 

Casaglio: 372. 

Caracci, Lodovico: 462. 

Casella, Polidoro: 333, 365. 

Casatico: 402. 

Casalpusterengo: 287, 289. 

Casalmaggiore: 433. 

Castiglione: (family of, 112, 152, 
— Baldassare, 112, 152, 402, 
414, 416, 543, — Cardinal 
Branda, 112, 152, i53-4> iS5> 
163.) 

Cassi, Enrico: 265. 

Castelleone: 322. 

Castracani, Castruccio: 83. 

Catena, Vincenzo: 379. 

Cavallina, Val: 69. 

Cavalcabo: (family of the, 328- 
9,— Ugolino, 328-9.) 

Cavriana: 542. 

Cavalli, Alberto: 554. 

Castiglione Olona: 

Ariberto (Heribert), Arch- 
bishop, 152; Aspect and situa- 
tion of, 112, 133, 150; Attila, 
152; Castiglione: (family of, 
112, 152, — Baldassare, 112, 
152, — Cardinal Branda, 152, 
153-4, 155, 160, 163, — Palace 
of, 152, 153-4, — Castle of, 152, 
— tomb of Card Branda, 160) ; 
Castello, the, 152; Collegiate, 
(church, 155-6, 158-161, — and 
Baptistery, 161-170) ; Griffus, 



Leonardus, 160; History of, 
H2, 152; Inn of, 1 50-1 51, 170; 
Masolino (da Panicale), 153, 
154, 155* 156-170, — ^frescoes 
of, 154, 156-170; Piazza (cen- 
tral) del Padre Eterno, 15 1-2; 
Palazzo Castiglione, 152, 
153-4; Railways to, 112, 133; 
S. Sepolcro, 151, 152-3; Stili- 
cho, 152. 

Cesare del Magno: 119, 123. 

Certosa di Pavia: Alessi, Gab., 
211; d'Alba, Macrino, 219; 
Amadeo, Giov. Ant, 191, 198, 

199, 201, 208-9, 210, 213-4, 
215, 216; Artistic importance 
of, 188-9, i9i» 197 J Art-treas- 
ures of, 188, 192-3; Approach 
to, 196; Bernardo da Venezia, 
198, 202; Borgognone, Amb., 

191, 204, 208, 209, 213, 215, 
218, 219; Bramante, 191, 208, 
213; Briosco, Benedetto, 198, 

200, 211; Building of, 190- 

192, 198, 218; Busti, Agostino, 
200-201 ; Campanile, the, 202, 
218; Campi, Bern., 215; 
Church, the: (facade, see 
Facade; Exterior, side-walls, 
201, — transept and choir, 202, 
218, — tower, 202, 218; Nave, 
202-203 > Side-chapels, 203-4, 
218-219; North transept, 204, 
207-9; South transept, 211- 
215; Choir, 209-211; Monu- 
ments, — of Lodovico and 
Beatrice Sforza, 204-7, — of 
Gian Gal. Visconti, 211-213; 
Amadeo's doorways, 208-9, 
213-4, 215, 216; Old sacristy, 
209; New sacristy, 213-4; 
Lavabo (lavatory), 213-4; 
Cloister: (smaller (della 
Fontana), 215-218, — view 

from last, 218, — greater, 
2i8) ; Doorways of Amadeo, 
208-9, 213-4, 215, 216; En- 
trance-pavilion, and frescoes, 



568 



INDEX 



196; Entrance-court, 196-7; 
Exterior of Certosa, 194, 196; 
d'Este, Beatrice, 204-7, 214; 
Facade of church: (building 
of, 191, 198, — aspect of, 197- 
201, — windows of, 199, — por- 
tal of, 200-201, — reliefs of, 
200) ; Fontana, A., 208 ; 
Founding of, 189-190, 201; 
Fusina, Andrea, 191 ; Francis 
I, King, 218; Fries, Theodore, 
of Brussels, 210; Highway to, 
194-196; History of, 188, 189- 
193, 198; Location of, 190; 
Lavabo's (Lavatories), 213-4, 
217; Luini, Bern., 196, 214, 
215; Mantegazzi : (Cristo- 
foro, 198, 200, — Antonio, 198, 
200) ; Maffioli, Alberto, 214; 
Monastic dwellings, 218; 
Monastic order of, 190, 192-3, 
218; Montagna, Bart, 215; 
Monuments, see Church; Mu- 
seum, 219; Novi, Nardino, 
211, 212; Orsolini, Tommaso, 
209 ; Palazzo Ducale, 196, 
219 ; Pellegrini, Galeazzo, 
211; Perugino, 203-4; Pic- 
tures removed, 192-3 ; Polli, 
Bart, de', 210; Porta, Gia- 
como della, 211; Procaccini, 
218, 219; Railway to, 194; 
Refectory, the, 217; Riccio, 
A., 218; Romano, Crist., 211; 
Romano, Gallida, 218; Routes 
to, 193-4; Sacristy, see 
Church; Sesto, Stefano da, 
2IO-2H ; Sforza, (Lodovico 
(II Moro), 190-192, 198, 
204-7, — monument of, 192, 
204-7); Solari: (Cristoforo, 
192, 206-7, 210, — Guiniforte, 
198); Solario, Andrea, 215; 
Stauris, Rinaldo de', 217, 218; 
Terracotta work, 216-7, 218; 
Tombs, see Church; Ubbri- 
achi, Bernardo degli, 209; 
Vairone, Biagio da. 210-211; 



Vellata, Pletro di, 210; Vis- 
conti: (Gian Galeazzo, 189- 
190, 201, 211-213, 215, — monu- 
ment of, 189, 2H-213, — Filip- 
po Mario, 218) ; Volpi, Am- 
brogio, 209 ; Wealth of mon- 
astery, and its Suppression, 
190, 192-193. 

Charles VIII, of France: 11, 
232, 418. 

Charles V, Emperor: 12, 93, 
233-6, 384, 419-421, 495, 543- 

Charity of Italians: 53-54, 394. 

Charlemagne: 92, 226, 253, 271. 

Charles of Anjou: 327. 

Cheese of Lombardy: 290. 

Chiesa, the brothers: 304. 

Charles I, King of England: 

423. 
Church-architecture, changes by 

Lombards: 272-273. 
Cimada Conegliano: 66, 67, 68. 
Civerchio*: 67, 311, 318, 378. 
Clusone: 69. 
Clarence, Duke of. Wedding of: 

250. 
Clementi, Prospero: 438. 
Colleoni: (family of, 9, 12, 70, 

— Cappella, see Bergamo, — 

Bartolomeo, 12, 36, 49-56, 70- 

72, 75-76, 83-84, 330,— Pietro, 

75-76.) 
Como, (Lake of: 2, — ^mountains 

of, 77, io8.) 
Company of Death: 178, 179. 
Columbus, Crist.: 245. 
Commessaggio: 548. 
Constantius, Emperor: 222. 
Conradin: 228. 
Correggio: 277, 416, 417, 423, 

503. 
Cortenuova, Battle of: 309-310. 
Costa, Lorenzo: 417, 418, 424, 

438, 458, 466, 484, 502-3, 509. 

543- 
Costa, Lorenzo, junior: 474, 477, 

509. 
Costa, Luigi : 466, 509. 



INDEX 



569 



Council, Church, (at Mantua in 
1064,-448 ; in 1459,-443, 
471-3.) 

Country-houses and -life: 78- 
80. 

Credi, Lorenzo di: (i'^^ 379. 

Crespi, D. and G. B. : 245. 

Crosaccio: 372. 

Cremona, Bertesi da: 365. 

Cremona, Arighi da: 366. 

Cremona, Diet of: 327. 

Crema: Battaggia, Giov. Gia- 
como, 319; Benzi, monument 
of, 318; Benzoni, the, 310; 
Campanile, the, — see Cathe- 
dral ; Campi, history and 
works of the, 317-8, 321, 322; 
Castelleone, 322 ; Cathedral, 
the: (309; exterior, 312-313; 
facade, 312, 315-6; campanile, 
312-3; portal, 315; nave, 317- 
318; side-altars, 318; can- 
vases, 317-8; Civerchio, paint- 
ing of, 318; Benzi, monument 
of, 318) — Civerchio, Vin- 
cenzo, 311, 318; Clock-tower, 
the city, 314, 318; Cortenuova, 
battle of, 309-310; Destruc- 
tion of, 307-9; Duomo, (Pi- 
azza del, 312, 313-4, — building 
of the, see Cathedral) ; Fred- 
erick I, Barbarossa, 307-9; 
Frederick II, 309-310; Gari- 
baldi, Piazza and statue of, 
312; Guelfic city, 307-9; His- 
tory of, 7, 307-310; Hotel of, 
316-7; Incoronata, church of 
the, at Castelleone, 322; S. 
Maria della Croce, 319-321; 
S. Maria delle Grazie (at 
Soncino), 322; Monfredini, 
368; Municipio, the, 314; 
Ombriano, 311;^ Palazzo 
Rossi, 311; Palazzo Munici- 
pal, 314; Palazzo Sforza 
(at Soncino), 321; Palazzo 
Vescovile, 314; Palazzo Viala 
(at Soncino, 322; Piazza, 



Calisto, 319; Piazza, Martino 
and Albertino, 322; Pius IX, 
Pope, statue of, 318; Popula- 
tion of, 307; Porta Serio, 311, 
312; Porta Ombriano, 318-9; 
Railway and station, 311-312, 
322; Ramparts, 311; Rebuild- 
ing of, 309 ; Sacchis, Agostino 
de', 368 ; Sforza, Francesco, 
310; Siege of, 308; Soncino, 
town and battle of, 321-2; 
Terracotta and brickwork of, 
309> 313, 315-316; Torre Pal- 
lavicina, 322 ; Tramways to 
and from, 306-7, 311, 321; 
SS. Trinita, 319; Venetian 
rule, 310; Via Mazzini, 312; 
Villa Bar*bi (at Torre Palla- 
vicina), 322; Visconti: (rule 
of the, 310, — Filippo Mario, 
310, — Gabriello, 310) ; Walls, 
see Ramparts. 
Cremona : 

S. Abbondio, 392-4; S. 
Agata, 342, 384-5; Agilulf, 
King, 325; S. Agostino, 334, 
380-381 ; Archwio Notarile, 
384; Aleni, Tommaso, 335, 
37^ ; Amadeo, Giov. Ant., 
363-4, 366, 370, 371; Ama- 
deo's Doorway, 371 ; Alaric, 
325; Amati, Niccolo, 339; 
Amici, Tommaso (or For- 
mato), 369; d'Anguisciola : 
the family of the, 339, — So- 
phonisba, 339) ; Aspect of, 
from the Torazzo, 354; 
Arighi da Cremona, 366; Ar- 
tistic history of, 332-340; Art 
of, school of, 317-8, 332-9; 
Attila, 325; Aspect of, 383, 
390; Barberini, G. B., 380; 
Baptistery, the, 345, 351-2, 
370; Bassano, Jacopo, 373; 
Bembo, Bonifazio, 335, 381 ; 
Bembo, Gian Fran., 334, 335, 
361, 376, 379; Bertesi da Cre- 
mona, 365 ; Bertazzola, the, 



570 



INDEX 



345-6, 347, 349-35o; Berga- 
maschi, Giov., 379; Boccac- 
cino: (Boccaccio, 333-4, 360, 
361, 362, 367, 379, 381, 385,— 
Camillo, 338-9, 379, 398,— 
Francesco, 395) ; Buoso da 
Doara, 327 ; Burning of, 325 ; 
Campi: (family and school of 
the, 317-8, 335-7, 370, 372, 

375, 380, 385, 386, 393, 395, 
396-399,— Galeazzo, 317, 335, 
379, 380, — Antonio, 317, 336- 

7, 362, 367, 368, 369, 372, 375, 

376, 381, 393, 395,— Vincenzo, 
317, 337, 375,— Giulio, 317, 
335-6, 337, 341, 367, 368, 372, 
373, 376, 381-2, 385, 393-4, 
395, 396-9, — ^Bernardino, 317- 

8, 336, 337, 362, 378, 379, 
397-8) ; Campanile, the, see 
Torrazzo ; Caccia del Toro, 
345; Casaglio, 372; Catena, 
Vincenzo, 379; Catapene, 
Luca, 366; Campo Santo, the, 
373-4; Casella, Polidoro, 333, 
365; Carmagnola, 329-330; 
Cathedral, the: (history of, 
332-3, 349; artists of, 333-5; 
fagade, 347-9; tower {cam- 
panile), 346-7; portal, 347-8; 
loggia, 345-6, 347, 349-350; 
northern transept fagade, 350- 
351; southern transept fa- 
gade, 374; nave, 357-365; 
choir, 359-360, 362, 368; 
frieze, the great, 361-3; pul- 
pits, the, 363-4; aisles and 
side-altars, 365-6; northern 
transept, 366-7; southern tran- 
sept, 368-9; sacristy, 368; 
choir-chapels, 367, 368; crypt, 
369-370) ; Cavalcabo, the 

(328-9,— Ugolino, 328-9) ; 

Celtic rule, 324; Charles of 
Anjou, 327; Churches of, 374, 
394-395 ; Charles V, Emperor, 
384; Civerchio, 378; Colleoni, 
Bart., 330; Corso Umberto, 



391-2; Corso Garibaldi, 342, 
385-6; Corso Vittorio Emanu- 
ele, 342; Credi, Lor. da, 379; 
Crosaccio, 372; Cross (or 
Crucifix), the, of Cremona, 
368; Dati (palace, and hos- 
pital of, 389-390, — Marchesa, 
389-390) ; Destruction of, by 
Agilulf, 325 ; Diet of, 327 ; 
Diotti, 362; Dominican mon- 
astery, 343 ; Egyptian Mar- 
tyrs, tomb of the, 363-4; Eu- 
gene, Prince, 332; SS. Euse- 
bio e Facio, 394; Festivals, 
mediaeval, 345 ; Fondulo, Ga- 
brino, 328-9, 356; Fodre, 
Marchese, and palace of, 391- 
2; Francia, 379; Francis I, 
King, 331 ; French rule, 331- 
2; Frederick Barbarossa, 326; 
Gambara, Lattanzio, 377; 
Gatti: (Bernardino (II Soia- 
ro), 338, 359, 360, 361, 362, 
372, 376, 377, — Gervasio, II 
Soiaro II), 338, 369, 376, 377, 
381, 395); Garibaldi, 384; 
Ghibelline leadership of, 326- 
7; S. Giacomo in Breda, — see 
S. Agostino ; SS. Giacomo e 
Vincenzo, 395; Gonsalvo, Gen., 
331, 332; Guelfic domination 
of, 326, 327, 328; Guarnieri, 
Gius. Ant., 340; Hannibal, 
324; Henry VII, Emp., 328; 
History of: (7, 324-332;— 
Celtic, 324; — Roman, 324-5; 
— Alaric and Attila, 325 ; — 
Gothic, 325 ; — Lombard, 325 ; 
— independent, 325-7 ; — Ghib- 
elline leadership, 326-7; — in- 
ternecine strife, 326-7 ; — ^Bu- 
oso da Doara, 327, 328 ; — Pal- 
lavicino. Mar., 327; — Charles 
of Anjou, 327; — Visconti rule, 
327-8, 329-330; — Cavalcabo 
tyranny, 328-9 ; — Fondulo tyr- 
anny, 328-9 ; — Sforza rule, 
330-331;— Venetian rule, 331; 



INDEX 



571 



— French rule, 331-2; — Span- 
ish rule, 331, 332) — Hotel of, 
342-3 ; Imperialism of, 326-7 ; 
Independent republic of, 325- 
7; Internecine strife, 326-7; 
John XXIII, Pope, 329, 356; 
Lamberti, 375 ; Lateranensi 
monastery, 377-8; Lescun, 
Gen., 331; Lodi, Ermenigi da, 
375, 376; Lombard sculptures, 
347-8, 350; Loggia, the Ca- 
thedral — , see Bertazzola ; S. 
Lorenzo (demolished), 364; 
Louis XII, King, 331; Lom- 
bard rule of, 325 ; Lombard 
League, 326; S. Luca, 385-6; 
Malatesta, Carlo, 329-330; 
Mainardi, 378, 381 ; Malosso, 
II, (Cav. Trotti), 339, 367, 

369, 372, 375, 376-7, 378, 380, 
381; S. Margherita, 341, 381- 
2; Majo, Fran, (or F. Ma- 
bilo de' Mazo), 369; Melone, 
Altobello, 334-5, 361, 362, 392, 
393; S. Michele, 395; Mira- 
dori, 372; Monte di Pieta, 
391-2; Moretti, Crist., 333, 
362-3 ; Municipio, — see Palaz- 
zo Municipale ; Museo Civi- 
co, 378-380; Name, supposi- 
tious derivation of, 324; Nat- 
ali, 376; Nani, Sebastiano da, 
347; S. Nicolo, altar of, 369; 
S. Omobuono, life and body 
of, 364-5 ; Ospedale Civico, 
394; Pallavicino, Mar., 327; 
Palazzi: (Reale, 378, — ^Pub- 
blico, see Pal, Municipale, — 
Giurisconsulti, 345, 352-3, — 
Crotti, 386, — Stanga, 386-7, — 
Trecchi, 384,— Maggi, ^ 385,— 
Dati, 389-390, — Municipale, 

345, 352-3, 371-3, 374) ; Pas- 
seggio Pubblico, 394; S. Pela- 
gia, 395; Perugino, 334, 381; 
Pedoni, Giov. Gaspare, 372-3, 
386; Sts. Peter and Marcel- 
linus, tomb of, 366-7, 370; 



Platina, Giov. Maria, 368; 
Piazza: (del Commune, 341, 
344-6, 351-3,— Roma, 341, 342- 
4,— Garibaldi, 342, 384-385,— 
Pescherie, 342, 374, — Cavour, 
353-4; S. Pietro al Po, 374-8) ; 
SS. Pietro e Marcellino, 395 ; 
Ponchielli, Amilcare, (statue 
to, 344, — Theatre Ponchielli, 
378) ; Porta Venezia, 341, 342, 
395; Porta al Po, 341, 342, 
378; Porta Milano, 341, 386; 
Po river, the, 341, 378; Po- 
rata, Giacomo, 347, 348 ; 
Population of, 332; Porde- 
none, 335, 360, 363, 365; Poz- 
zi, Ambr. da, 368; Ramparts, 
the, 394; Reconstruction of, 
325 ; Roman rule of, 324-5, 
342; Romanino, 335, 363; 
Roman city of, 342; Romano, 
Crist., 385; Ricca, Bern., 366; 
Ricca, Battista, 377; Sack of, 
328; Scala, Mastino della, 
327; School of Painting of, 
332-9; Secchi, Bramante, 385; 
Shrine (of the Egyptian Mar- 
tyrs, 363-4, — of Sts. Peter and 
Marcellinus, 366-7, 370) ; 
Sforza: (rule of the, 330-331, 
— Francesco, 330, 337, 398-9, — 
Lodovico, 330-331, — Bianca 
(Visconti),^ 330-331); S. Siro, 
394; Sigismund, Emperor, 
329, 356; S. Sigismondo, 337, 
34i>. 395-9;. Soiaro, II, — see 
Gatti; Spanish rule, and deso- 
lation of the, 331, 332; Stan- 
ga: (palace of the, 386-7, — 
Marchese Ildefonso, 387-9, — 
model farm of, 387-8) ; Stra- 
divari, Ant., 340; Tarsia, Pie- 
tro della, 368; Teatro (Thea- 
tre) Ponchielli, 378; Terra- 
cotta and brickwork of, 326, 
386-7, 389, 391-2; Trecchi, 
Mar. Fran., tomb of, 385 ; To- 
razzo, the (346-7, 354-6, — 



572 



INDEX 



view from, 354-5) ; Towers, 
mediaeval, 374; Tower of 
Cremona, the, — see Torrazzo; 
Topography of, 341-2, 383; 
Triumvirate, the Second, 325 ; 
Van Orleys, 379; Venetian 
rule of, 331; Vespasian, Emp., 
325; Visconti: (Otto (Otho), 
327-8, — Azzo, 328, — rule of 
the, 327-8, 329-330, — Filippo 
Mario, 329-330) ; Villari, 
Gen., 332; Violin industry of, 
and its masters, 339-340, 380; 
Via al (Viale del) Po, 341, 
378; Vida, Marco Gir., 340- 
341, 377, 395; Vittorio Eman- 
uele II, statue of, 354; Walls 
of, — see Rampfrts. 

D 

Decoration, gaudy, of churches: 

382-383. 
Delia Torre: (the family of the, 

5, 6, 284, — Martino, 284). 
Desiderius: 226. 
Desolation of Lombardy, under 

the Spaniards: 235-7. 
D'Este, — see Este. 
Diotti: 362. 

Doara, Buosa da: 327. 
Dolcebono: 243-4, 298. 
Donatello: 67, 413. 
Donizetti, Gaetano: 18, 23, 46. 
Dossi, Dosso: 466, 503. 



E 



D'Edesia, Andrino: 269, 272, 
280. 

Electric power-plants of Lom- 
bardy: 171, 184. 

Electric railroads of Lombardy: 

Eleemosynary institutions: 54, 

394- 
Epiphanius: 223, 224. 
D'Este: (see also under Man- 



tua), (Beatrice, 204-7, 214, 
221, 230-232, 414, 479-485, 
499 ; — Beatrice, Archduchess 
of Austria, 104, 105 ; — Isabel- 
la, 401-403, 414-421, 458, 479- 
485, 499, 500-507, 510-511, 517, 
540, 541); 

Eugene, Prince: 332. 

Ezzelino da Romano: 327, 407. 



Fabriano, Gentile da: 68. 

Fallabrini, the: 229. 

Fantone: 33. 

Farinata, Paolo: 277, 450, 545. 

Farini, Benedetto: 321-322. 

Farms of Lombardy: 113-4, i49" 
150. 

Farmers, land-owning: 149-150. 

Favorita, Palazzo (or Villa) : 
460, 542. 

Faenza, Luca da: 493. 

Feltre, Bernardino da: 260. 

Feltre, Vittorino da: 412, 544. 

Ferdinand, Archduke, Governor 
of Lombardy: 104-5. 

Ferdinand II, King: 424-5. 

Ferramola : 70. 

Ferrari, Gandenzio: 66, 112, 
119-120, 123, 124-5, 174-7, 287. 

Feti, Dom. : 450. 

Fiori, Monte dei: see page 74. 

Fisiraga, the: (284, 285, — An- 
tonio, 284, 285.) 

Fontana A. : 208. 

Fondulo, Gabrino: 328-9, 356. 

Foppa, Vincenzo: 250, 252. 

Fornovo, Battle of: 418, 457, 

515- 
Francia: 68, 379, 417, 466. 
Francis I, King: 218, 233-5, 306, 

331- 
Francis III, Duke of Modena, 

and Varese: 135, 140. 
Franchetti, Baron, model estate 

of: 545-6. 
Frederick I, Barbarossa: 4, 177- 



INDEX 



573 



i8o, 220, 228, 271-2, 282-4, 

307-9, 326. 
Frederick II: 4, 220, 309-310, 

407. 
Francelli, Luca: 413. 
Fries, Theodore, of Brussels: 

210. 
Fusina, Andrea: 191. 

G 

Gallarate: 171. 
Gallienus, Emperor: 3. 
Gambera, Lattanzio: 377. 
Garbieri, Lor.: 462. 
Garibaldi: 136, 253, 384. 
Gasparin da Bergamo: 17. 
Gatti, Bern.: 338, 359, 360, 361, 

362, 372, 376, 377- 
Gatti, Gerv.: 338, 369, 376, 381, 

395. 
Gentile da Fabriano: 68. 
Ghibello, Battle of: 284, 326. 
Ghibelline and Guelf customs: 

5,6. 
Giorgione: 14, 68. 
Giordano, Luca : 46. 
Giovenone, Gir. : 139, 277. 
Goito, Villa of: 413, 541. 
Gonsalvo, General: 331, 332. 
Gonzales, Fran.: 261. 
Gonzaga: (town and castle of, 

441, 541, 545,— family of, and 

its members, etc., see under 

Mantua). 
Grata, Santa: 3. 
Griffus, Leonardus: 160. 
Guarnieri, Guiseppe Ant.: 340. 
Guastalla, dukes and town of: 

422, 424, 545. 
Guercino: 90. 
Guisoni, Fermo: 430, 439, 450, 

486. 
Guelf and Ghibelline customs: 

5, 6. 

H 

Hals, Franz: 67. 
Henry II, Emp.: 227. 



Henry IV, Emp.: 446, 447. 

Henry VII, Emp. : 6, 220, 228- 
9, 284, 328, 408. 

Heribert (Ariberto), Arch- 
bishop of Milan: 152, 178. 

Hildebrand: 447, 448. 

Holbein: 68. 

Honorius, Emp.: 222-3. 

Hofer, Andreas: 460. 

Hospitals of Italy: 394. 

Humbert, King: see Umberto I. 

Hunting in Lombardy: 115- 
116. 



Ideal Piazza of the Middle 

Ages: 34476. 
Inquisition in Lombardy: 236, 

237. 
Insubres, the Celtic: 281. 
Iron Crown of Lombardy: see 

under Monza. 
Irrigation in Lombardy: 290. 
Iseo, Lake of: 2, 69-70. 

J and K 

Jesulstry In Lombardy: 236, 

237. 
Jesuitical control of Italians: 

382-3- 
John XXIII, Pope: 329, 356. 
Joseph II, Emp.: 237. 
Justinian, Emp.: 225. 
Kaufmann, Angelica: 53. 



Lambro river: iii. 
Land-holdings of Lombardy: 

1 1 3-4, 149-150. 
Lanini, Bern.: 119, 123, 175, 

180, 185-6, 287. 
S. Lanfranco: (278, — Area of, 

278-9.) 
Lamberti, of Firenze: 375. 
Lanzano: 293. 



574 



INDEX 



Laus Pompeia: 281-2, 305-6. 
Lautrec, General: 233, 235, 251. 
League of Cambrai: 418. 
League, Lombard: see Lom- 
bard. 
Lecco, Mountains of Lake of: 

74- 

Legnano, Battle of: 177, 183. 

Legnano, town of: 

Aspect and situation of, 
III, 181; Battle of, 177, 183; 
Bramante, 180, 185; Carroc- 
cio, the, 178-9, 182-3; Com- 
pany of Death, the, 178, 179; 
Electric power of, 171, 184; 
Frederick I, Barbarossa, 177- 
180; History of, 177-180; In- 
dustries of, 180-181, 183; 
Lanini, 180, 185-6; Luini, 
Bern., 180, 186-7; §• Magno, 
church of, 185-7; Monument 
of Italian Freedom, 180, 
181-3; Municipio (Palazzo 
Municipale), 185; Piazza 
Umberto, 184; Population of, 
180; Railway to, 112. 

Leonbruno, Lorenzo: 486, 501. 

Leoni, Leone: 556. 

Leonardo da Vinci: 11, 68, 118, 
245, 303-4, 416. 

Lescun, General: 285, 331. 

Leyva, General: 235-6. 

Liberale, da Verona: 276. 

Livia, Empress: 222. 

Lodigiano, the: 289-290, 305. 

Lodi, Ermenigi da: 375, 376. 

Lodi, Diet of: 283. 

Lodi, Scipione da: 31. 

Lodi, Battle of: 3, 286, 297-8. 

Lodi, City of: 

Adda river, 281, 283, 286, 
297-8; S. Agnese, 297; As- 
pect of, 291-2, 297 ; Borgo- 
gnone, 298, 302-4; Botassi, of 
Milan, 293; Battle of, 3, 281, 
286, 297-8 ; Battaggia, Giov. 
Giacomo, 298-9 ; Campi, the, 
of Cremona, 293 ; Cathedral, 



the: (location, 291; facade, 
291-2; campanile, 291-2; 
portal, 292; nave, 292-3; 
Botassi, 293 ; chapels, 293, 
294; Campi, the, 293; Lan- 
zano, 293 ; Procaccini, 293 ; 
Malosso, 293; crypt, 293; 
Last Supper, relief of, 294; 
Piazza, Alb. and Calisto, 294- 
5.) — Cheese (Parmesan) of, 
290; Chiesa, the brothers, 
304; Countryside of (the Lo- 
digiano), 289-290; Destruc- 
tion of, by Milan, 282; Diet 
of, 283; Dolcebono, 298; Du- 
omo, see Cathedral; Fisiraga: 
(family of the, 284, 285, — An- 
tonio, 284, 285) ; Frederick I, 
Barbarossa, 282-284; French 
occupation of, 285 ; Ghibelline 
leadership of, 282-4; Guelfic 
domination of, 283, 284; 
Henry VII, Emp., 284; His- 
tory of, 5, 281-6; Imperialism 
of 281, 282-4; Inn of, 291; 
Incoronata, church of the 
(295, 298-305 ; history of, 298- 
9; fagade, 299; nave, 299- 
301 ; general frescoing of, 300- 
301; choir, 302; canvas-paint- 
ings, 301-305) ; Irrigation of 
the Lodigiano, 290; Lanzano, 
293 ; Last Supper, mediaeval 
relief of the, 294; Laus Pom- 
peia, 281-2, 305-6; Lescun, 
General, 285; Location of, 
281, 283; Lombard League, 
283, 284; S. Lorenzo, 295-6; 
Malosso, 293; Milan, destruc- 
tion of, 283-4; Milanese rule 
of, 284-5 ; MMnz«/)io (Palazzo 
Municipale), 291, 295; Na- 
poleon the Great, 281, 286, 
298 ; Piazza Maggiore, 291, 
295 ; Piazza : School, family, 
members, and works of the: 
(School of the, 295, 296, 298, 
301, 302; Albertino, 294, 295, 



INDEX 



575 



297, 301-2, 304; Calisto, 294- 
5, 301, 302, 304; Martino, 295, 
'2'^1, 30i> 302, 304; Fulvio, 
304; Population of, 281; Pro- 
caccini, 293; Railways to, 286, 
287, 289-90, 306 ; Ramparts, 
305 ; Rebuilding of, 283 ; 
Spanish rule of, 285-6; 
Strabo, Pompeius, 281 ; Ti- 
ziano (Titian), 302; To- 
pography of, 290-291 ; Torre, 
Martino della, 284; Tram- 
ways to, 286-7, 306-7; Vig- 
nate, Giov., 285; Visconti: 
(rule of the, 284-5 ; Filippo 
Mario, 285; Otho (or Otto), 
284) ; Vistarini, the, 285 ; 
Walls of: see Ramparts. 

Lombard League: 4, 177-180, 
183, 283, 284, 326, 407. 

Lombard Monarchs: 81-82, 271. 

Lombard Sculpture: 266-9, 271, 

294, 350. 

Lombard Racial characteristics: 
268-269. 

Lombard Church-Architecture: 
221-2, 266-273. 

Lombard Changes in church- 
architecture: 272-3. 

Lombard Spirit of Freedom: 
268-9. 

Lombard Mosaic: 271. 

Lombardy, Agriculture and 
crops of, — see Agriculture and 
Plain. 

Lombardy: (canals and water- 
ways of, HO-112; 171; west- 
ern boundary of, 110, 171.) 

Lombardy: see also Plain and 
Milanese. 

Lombardi, Tullio: 484, 490. 

Longasco, Ricciardino: 229. 

Longasco, the: 229. 

Lomellina, the: 287. 

St. Longinus: 438, 439. 

Lotto, Lorenzo: 2, 15, 16, 27-28, 
31, 32, 34, 61, 66, 68, 69. 

Lothaire, Emp.: 227-8. 



Lothaire, King: 279. 

Louis XII, of France: 11, 12, 

232-3, 331, 418. 
Louis XIII of France: 424. 
Louis (or Lewis) of Bavaria, 

Emperor: 83, 408, 409. 
Lovere: 69-70. 
Luini, Bernardino: 95, 112, 118- 

9, 123, 126-131, 175, i8o, 186- 

7, 190, 196, 214, 215, 277. 
Luitprand, King: 253, 257, 258. 

M. 

Maderno, town and Villa: 542. 
Majo, Fran, (or F. Mabilo de' 

Mazo) : 369. 
Magnentius, Emp.: 222. 
Maglioli, Sperandio: 438. 
Maggiore, Lago (Lake) : no, 

HI, 112. 
Maffioli, Alberto: 214. 
Malatesta, Carlo: 329-330. 
Malatesta, Pandolfo: 9. 
Malpaga: 70-72. 
Malosso, II (Cav. Trotti) 293, 

339, 367, 369, 372, 375, 376-7, 

378, 380, 381. 
Mainardi: 378, 381. 
Mantoanello: 531. 
Mantegna, Andrea: 66y 68, 401, 

413, 421, 424, 437, 455, 457, 

458, 486, 489, 502, 511-517, 

539, 541. 
Mantegna, Francesco: 438. 
Mansueti: 66, 68. 
Mantegazza, Antonio: 198, 200. 
Mantegazza, Cristoforo: 198, 

200. 
Manto: 404. 
Mantovani, Rinaldo: 430, 486, 

489, 493, 523, 525, 527, 528, 

537. 
Mantovani, Battista: 523. 
Mantovani, Camillo: 525. 
Mantua (Mantova) : 

Abbate, Niccolo dell', 430; 

Accademia Virgiliana, 454, 



576 



INDEX 



457-8; Alberti, Leon Batt., 
401, 412, 435, 436-7, 449, 464, 
516; Andes, 405, 543-4; S. 
Andrea, 412, 435-9; Aldus (or 
Aldo) of Venice, 414, 416; 
Andreasi, Bishop, tomb of, 
438; Alps, view of the, 451, 
459, 488, 494; Andrea da 
Pavia, 458 ; Anselmo, coun- 
sellor of Matilda, 447; An- 
selmi, Giorgio, 473 ; Albert, 
Margrave of Brandenburg, 
472; Andreasi (the artist), 
477; Andreasino, 509; Ari- 
osto, 416, 417; Aspect and lo- 
cation of M., 400-^01, 403-4; 
Appartamenti, di Troia, — Du- 
cali, — Stivali, — see Reggia; 
S. Apollonia, 466; Archivico 
Storico Gonzaga, 454; Aus- 
trian rule of M., 425, 427-8, 
486, 517-8, 523; Augustus, 
Emperor, 405-6 ; Bandello, 
417; S. Barbera, 462-3; S. 
Barbera of the Gonzaghi, — 
see Reggia; Bernini, 475; 
Beata Osanna, 458; S. Bene- 
detto al Po, 446-7, 544-5; 
Bertani, G. B., 430, 462, 473, 
496; Beauharnais, Prince Eu- 
gene, and his Consort, 426-7, 
443, 472, 533; Bellini, Gian, 
417, 503; Bembo, Card., 414, 
416, 417, 543; Bibbiena, 414; 
Belfiore: (the Martyrs of, 
428, 442, 465, 518, — the Monu- 
ment to, 442, 465) ; Bosco 
della Fontana, 541-2; Boz- 
zola Principality of, — see Sab- 
bioneta; Boccacino, Boccac- 
cino II, 462; Borgani, 543; 
Bonsignori, Fran., 458, 541 ; 
Boniface, Marquis, 447, — 
tomb of, 447; Borgia, Cesare, 
418; Boschetti, Isabella, 420, 

421,. 463, 522, 527, 528; S. 

Bonifazio, Count of, 407; 
Brancaforte, 440; Broletto, 



{Palazzo della Ragione)^ 439- 
442; Brunelleschi, 412, 432, 
465 ; Brusasorci, 450, 462, 
466, 509; Buonacolsi: (fam- 
ily, and rule of the, 407-409 ; 
Pinamonte, 407 ; Guido, 408 ; 
Rinaldo, 408 ; Passerine, 408- 
409 ; palaces of the, 408, 442- 
3, 444 (and see under Reg- 
gia) ; Camera degli Sposi, see 
Reggia; Campi, the, 438; 
Campi, Felice, 474; Canedole, 
545-546; Capilupo, 431; Cas- 
tiglione: (Baldassare, 402, 
414, 416, 543,— tomb of, 543, 
—palaces of the, 402, 444) ; 
Casatico, 402 ; Castello, the, 
401-3, 410, 413, 415, 427, 428, 
450, 452-3, 467, 468, 507, 508, 
510-519; Caroto, 458, 466; 
Caracci, Lod., 462; Castello, 
Piazza (or Prato) del,- — see 
Reggia; Caravaggino, 533, 
537; Cathedral: (410, 412, 
413, 421, 445, 447-8; nave, 
448-9, 450; chapels, — Incoro- 
nata, 449 ; Sacrament, 449- 
450; choir, apse, dome and 
transepts, 450; eastern side- 
chapel, 450) ; Cavallerizza, 
the, — see Reggia ; Cavriana, 
Villa, 542; churches of M., 
426, 466 ; Charles I, King of 
England, 423 ; Charles V, 
Emp., 419-421, 495, 543; 
Charles VIII, King of France, 
418; dementi, Prospero, 438; 
Citadel of M., 460; Commes- 
saggio, 548 ; Corso Vitt. 
Emanuele, 434, 464-5 ; Costa, 
Luigi, 466, 509 ; Costa, Lo- 
renzo, 417, 418, 424, 438, 458, 
466, 484, 502-3, 509, 517, 543; 
Costa, Lor., jr., 474, 477, 509; 
Council, Church — (in 1064: 
448,— in 1459: 443, 471-472) ; 
Correggio, 416, 417, 423, 503; 
Corte Vecchio, — see Reggia; 



INDEX 



577 



Dante (457» — ^Piazza and 
statue of, 453-4) ; Darsena, 
the, 461; Donatello, 413; 
Duomo, — see Cathedral; Dos- 
so Dossi, 466, 503 ; Environs 
of, and Excursions from M., 
520-561; S. Egidio, 466; 
Etruscan M., 404-5 ; D'Este, 
Isabella, (401-3, 414-421, 458, 
479-485, 499, 500-507, 510-511, 
517, 540, 541 ; art-treasures 
of, 482-3, 484-5, 500-505, 511; 
beauty and charms of, 505-6; 
mottoes and emblems of, 481- 
2, 484, 505, 507) ; Ezzelino, 
da Romano, 407; Favorita, 
Palazzo (or Villa) della, 460, 
542 ; Farinata, Paolo, 450, 
545 ; Fermo da Caravag- 
gio, 493; Feti, Dom., 450; 
Ferdinand II, King, 424-5 ; 
Fornovo, Battle of, 418, 457, 
515; Francia, 417, 466; S. 
Francesco, 422, 426 ; Fred- 
erick I, Barbarossa, 407; 
Frederick II, Emp., 407 ; 
Francelli, Luca, 413 ; Frankish 
rule of M., 406; Franchetti, 
Baron, model estate of, 545-6 ; 
Garbieri, Lor., 462; Gardens, 
Public, 465 ; Garibaldi Piazza 
and statue of, 461 ; Giovanni 
de' Medici (delle Bande 
Nere), 462; Gonzaga, castle 
and town of, 441, 541, 545; 
German rule of M., 406; 
Goito, Villa of, 413, 541; 
Gonzaghi, the: (story and 
family of, 401-3, 408-425, 433, 
470, 541-2, 545, 546-7, 548; 
Armorial Collection of the, 
471 ; Bozzolo branch of the, 
546-7, 548, (and see Sabbio- 
neta) ; Cardinal Ercole, 419, 
420, 422; Cardinal Francesco, 
515; Cardinal Sigismondo, 
516; Carlo I, 424, 484; Carlo 
iV, 425 ; Castle and town of 



the, 441, 541, 545 ; Church, 
family — , and festival of the, 
466; Dwarfs of, and their 
appartments, 499-500, 514; 
Elisabetta, 408-9, 462; Fed- 
erigo I, 413-4, 456, 513-6; 
Federigo II, 223, 415, 419-422, 
486, 495, 522-3, 527, 543 ; Fer- 
rante, 422; Forest of (Bosco 
della Fontana), 541-2; Fran- 
cesco II, 423 ; Francesco IV, 
410, 470, 522, 542; Gianfran- 
cesco II, 411-2; Gianfrancesco 

III, 414-5, 417-9,457, 486,493- 

4, 516, 517, 541; Guastalla 
branch, 422, 424, 545; Gug- 
lielmo I, 422-3, 468, 496, 
497, 500, 509, 523; Guido, 
409; Isabella, — see d'Este; 
Leonora, 402; Lodovico II, 
412-3, 439, 456, 469, 472, 513- 

5, 54i;.Luigi I, 408-9, 462; 
S. Maria delle Grazie, 542; 
Monferrato, Principality and 
dukes of, 421, 422 ; Mottoes 
and devices of, 517, 526-7; 
Museum of Natural History 
of, 497-8 ; Pilgrimage-church 
of, 542; Rodolfo, 514, 515; 
Sabbioneta branch, — see Boz- 
zolo, and Sabbioneta; Sculp- 
ture-Collections of, 454, 492-3, 
503-4, 542, 559-560; Spectacles 
and tournaments of, 495-6; 
Vespasiano, 546-7, 549, 551-4, 
555, 556, 557-9; Villas, coun- 
try,— of, 413, 422, 458, 460, 
540-542, 548 ; Vincenzo I, 423, 
430, 479, 480, 497, 523, 542; 
Vincenzo II, 423-4;) Grotta, 
the, of Isabella, — see Reggia; 
Guastalla, dukes and town of, 
422, 424, 545 ; Guisoni, Fermo, 
430, 439, 450, 486; Hanging 
Garden, — see Reggia ; Henry 

IV, Emp., 446, 447, 466; 
Henry VII, Emp., 408 ; Hilde- 
brand, 447, 448 ; History of 



578 



INDEX 



M. : (401-2, 404-428; Etrus- 
can, 404-5 ; Celtic, 405 ; Ro- 
man, 405-6 ; Lombard, 406 ; 
Prankish, 406 ; German, 406 ; 
Tebaldo, 406 ; Countess Ma- 
tilda, 406-7, 446-7; independ- 
ent republic, 407 ; S. Boni- 
fazio, Count of, 407; Scala 
rule, 407; Buonacolsi tyranny, 
407-9 ; Gonzaga principality, 
409-425 ; Austrian rule, 425, 
523 ; Napoleonic rule, 425-7, 
523 ; Austrian second rule, 
427-8, 523) ; Hofer, Andreas, 
460; Independent republic of 
M., 407 ; Hotel of, 434 ; Lakes, 
the, of Mantua, 403, 434, 450- 
452, 453; S. Leonardo, 466; 
Leonbruno, Lor., 486, 501, 
517; League of Cambrai, 418- 
9; Leonardo da Vinci, 416; 
Library, the city — , 454, 544; 
Lombardi, Tullio, 484, 490; 
Lombard rule, 406; Lombard 
League, 407 ; Louis of Ba- 
varia, Emp., 408, 409 ; Louis 
XII, King, 418; St. Longinus 
(tomb of, and vessel of), 438, 
439; Louis XIII, King, 424; 
Luca da Faenza, 493 ; S. 
Maria della Carita, 466; 
Maria Teresa, Empress, 425, 
523 ; Mantovani, Battista, 
523; S. Maurizio, 461-2; Mar- 
mirolo, Villa of, 458, 541-2; 
S. Maria delle Grazie, 542-3 ; 
Mantovani, Battista, 523 ; 
Mantovani, Camillo, 525 ; 
Mantoanello, 531; Maderno, 
Villa of, 542; Mantegna, 
Fran., 438, 541 ; Maglioli, 
Sperandio, 438; Mantovani, 
Rinaldo, 430, 486, 489, 493, 
523, 525, 527, 528, 537; Man- 
tegna's Triumph of Caesar, 
421, 424, 489 ; Menghi, Pie- 
tro, • 479; Medici, Giov. de' 
(delle Bande Nere), 462; 



Mantegna's well-perspective, 
513; Mantegna's auto-por- 
trait, 516; Mantegna, Andrea, 
401, 413, 416, 418, 421, 424, 
437, 455, 457, 458, 483, 486, 
489, 502, 511-517, 539, 541; 
Manto, 404; Matilda, Coun- 
tess, (406-7, 446-8, 544-5,— 
tomb of, 447, 545) ; Michel- 
angiolo, 416, 417, 504; Min- 
cio river, 403, 404, 405 ; 
Montef eltri, Guidobaldo, 402 ; 
Montanara, 542 ; Mostra 
Gallery, the, — See Reggia; 
Monferrato, duchy of, 421, 
422 ; Monsignori, Fran., 
458; Mola, Ant. and Paolo 
della, 482, 511; Museum 
of Natural History, Gonzaga, 
497-8 ; Museo Patrio, 454, 
456-7; Museo del Risorgi- 
mento, 458; Museo Civico, 
454-6, 493, 498, 542, 559-560; 
Napoleon the Great, 426, 
474; Nevers, Charles de, — 
see Carlo I, of the Gonzaghi ; 
Nevers, ducal line of, 424-5 ; 
Novara, Bartolino da, 410; 
Ocnus, 404; Octavius, — see 
Augustus; Ognissanti, church 
of, 466; Orsini, Felice, 518; 
Ospedale Civile, 465 ; Ore- 
fici, Degli, 532; Orfeo, the, 
516; Pavia, Lorenzo da, 414- 
5, 485 ; Paradiso, the, — see 
Reggia; Paleologa, Mar- 
gherita, — and Gonzaga suc- 
cession to 4orn^ins of the, — 
421 ; Palazzi (Palaces) : 
(della Ragione (Broletto), 
439-442; Belvidere, — see Reg- 
gia ; del Te, — see chapter 
XIV; S. Sebastiano, — see 
Reggia; Municipale, 460; 
Vescovile, 445 ; Cadenazzi, 
444; Buonacolsi, 408, 442-3, 
444, — also see Reggia; Cas- 
tiglione, 402, 444; Gonzaghi, 



INDEX 



579 



— see Reggia; di Giustizia, 
463-4) ; Paleologa, Gabinetto 
della, 476 ; Palma Giovane, 
475; Palazzina, — see Reggia; 
Pagni, Ben., 430, 466, 523, 
527, 528 ; Petrarch, 409 ; Peru- 
gino, 416, 417, 424, 502, 503; 
Picture-Gallery of the Reg- 
gia, 475; Pius II, Pope, 443, 
471, 472; Piazzas: (Dante, 
453-4; Virgiliana, 459; del 
Broletto, 432, 440-441 ; Sor- 
dello, 431, 432, 442-5; S. An- 
drea (or Mantegna), 432, 434- 
5, 439; delle Erbe, 432, 439- 
440) ; Pisanello, 401 ; Pietole, 
405, 443-4; Ponte dei Molini, 
403, 407, 432, 460; Ponte S. 
Giorgio, 403, 410, 450-2; Pop- 
ulation of M., 434; Plague of 
1528, 420; Porta Pusterla, 
432; Politian, 516; Porta 
Pradella, 432; Praxiteles, 504; 
Primaticcio, 401, 420, 430, 
486, 488, 517, 523, 531, 532, 
534> 538 ; Quadrilateral, the 
Austrian, 404, 427, 428 ; Ram- 
parts,^ 403, 465-6, 524; Re-- 
canati, II, 493 ; Republic of 
M., 407; Reggia, the: (ar- 
mory, 470-1 ; S. Barbara, 468, 
507-510; Belvidere (Palaz- 
zo),— or del Paradiso, — ^413, 
416, 468, 469, 479-485, 499; 
Buonacolsi palaces, 442-3, 

467, 468, 470-5, 506-7 ;Camera 
degli Sposi, 401, 413, 453, 456, 
511-517; Castello Vecchio, 
401-3, 410, 413, 415, 427, 428, 
450, 452-3, 467, 468, 507, 508, 
510-519; Cavallerizza, the, 
421, 427, 467* 468, 491-6; 
Cortile d'Onore, 468, 476, 500; 
Corte Vecchio (Apparta- 
menti Ducali), 416, 427, 467, 

468, 475-9 ; Corridor, the cov- 
ered, 468, 478, 485, 499; S. 
Croce, Cortile of, 468, 507; 



Domestic Establishment, 469; 
Gabinetti di Primaticcio, 488 ; 
Gabinetti di Giulio Romano, 
489; Gabinetto della Paleol- 
oga, 476 ; Giardino del Pa- 
diglione, 469, 481, 499; 
Grotta, the, of Isabella, 415, 
416, 424, 427, 483, 484, 500- 
506; Hanging Garden, the 
old, 488 — the newer, 443-4, 
467-8, 473; history of, 401-3, 
408, 410, 412, 413, 415, 423-7, 
468-9, 470, 472, 474, 486, 495- 
6, 497-8, 499, 500, 501, 506, 
509 ; Loggia dei Frutti, 496 ; 
location and external aspect 
of, 400-401, 432, 442-4; Man- 
tegna's "Triumph of Caesar," 
421, 424, 489 ; Mostra Gal- 
lery, the, 423, 427, 497-8; 
Museum of Natural History, 
497-8 ; Nani, Appartamenti 
dei, 499-500; Palazzina, the, 
421, 427, 453, 511; Palazzo 
S. Sebastiano, 421, 452, 453, 
467, 468, 485-491, 493-4; Para- 
diso (apartment, 416, 425, 
427, 476, 479-485,— building 
or palace of the, see Belvi- 
dere Palazzo) ; Piazza della 
Lega Lombarda, 469, 508; 
Piazza (or Prato) del Cas- 
tello, 468, 473, 507; Piazza 
Paradiso, 468, 508 ; Piazza del 
Pallone, 469, 508 ; Pinacoteca, 
475; Repair and redecoration : 
(by the Austrian rulers, 425, 
470, 472, 477, 491; by the 
French rulers, 425-6, 470, 471, 
472; Romano's Cycle of the 
Trojan War, 421, 490-491; 
Sala dei Marmi, 491-3; Sale 
and disposal of the treasures 
of, 423-5, 491; Sack of, by 
the Spaniards, 425, 491 ; 
Sculptures of, 454, 492-3, 503- 
4; Stables and kennels, the, 
469 ; State-department offices, 



58o 



INDEX 



486; Staircase of Giulio Ro- 
mano, 468, 485; Specchi, Sala 
degli, 476-478 ; Spectacles and 
Tournaments, 495-6; Stivali, 
Appartamenti, 468, 496-7, 498- 
9; Studiolo, the, 415, 453, 5"; 
Theatre, the ducal, 444; To- 
pography of the R., 467-470; 
Throne-Room, 486 ; Titian's 
Series of the Twelve Caesars, 
421, 423-4, 489; Troia, Ap- 
partamenti di, 427, 452, 486- 

491.) Rio, the, 461, 466; 

Romano, Cristoforo, 483; Ro- 
mano, Giulio: (life of, 336, 

420, 421, 429-430, 463 ; school 
of, 336, 429, 430, 449» , 486, 
493» 528-9, 539, 544; Gabinetti 
di, 489; Loggia of, 494; his 
Cycle of the Trojan War, 

421, 452; tomb of, 463; house 
of, 463, works of, at Mantua 
and in its environs, 401, 428- 
430, 432, 438, 439, 445, 448- 
450, 452, 463-4, 476, 486, 489, 
490-493, 498, 502, 507, 511, 517, 
520-523, 526-540, 543, 544- 
545.) Roman Mantua, 405-6; 
Rovere, Duke Fran. Maria 
della, 402; Rubens, 423, 457; 
Ruboni, 477 ; San Secondo, 
Jacopo da, 505 ; Santi, Giov., 
417 ; Sarto, Andrea del, 423 ; 
Sabbioneta, — see under 8. 
Saviolo, Villa, 542; Sanso- 
vino, 504; Scultori, 493, 523, 
531, 534, 544; Sculptures of 
the Gonzaghi, — See Gonzaghi; 
Scala, (rule of, 407; Alberto 
della, 407; Mastino della, 
407) ; Serafino, 505 ; S. Se- 
bastiano, 412, 464, 476; Sebas- 
tiano del Vino, 477; Sforza, 
Fran., 419-420, 472; Sforza, 
Max., 419; Sigismund, Emp., 
411, 412, 534; Siege, and 
sack, of M., by the French, 
402, 426, — ^by the Spaniards, 



424-5, 491, 523; Sigismund, 
Duke of Austria, 472; So- 
ranzo, Piero, 493-4; Sordello, 
431; Speri, Tito, 428, 518; 
Spagnuoli, 431, 457; Strozzi, 
Pietro, monument of, 439 ; 
Studiolo, the, of Isabella, — 
see Reggia; Tasso, Bern., 417, 
431-2; Teatro Sociale, 464; 
Theatre of the Gonzaghi — see 
Reggia ; Terracotta, and 
brick, beauties of M., 440, 
445, 457, 459; Teatro Virgil, 
459; Te, Palazzo del, — see 
under T. ; Tebaldo, Count, 
406, 446, 544; Titian (Tizi- 
ano), 416, 421, 423-4, 503, 
544; Titian's Series of the 
Twelve Caesars, 421, 423-4, 
489 ; Tintoretto, 423 ; To- 
pography of M., 403-4, 432; 
Torbido, Fran., 439 ; Tower, 
city clock — (or Torre dell' 
Orologio), 439-440; Torre 
della Gabbia, 444; Trojan 
War, Cycle of the, 421, 490- 
491 ; Trisseno, Giangiorgio, 
506; Triumvirate, the Second, 
405-6; Udine, Giov. da, 538, 
539; Villas: (Porto, 541; 
Marmirolo, 541 ; Sacchet- 
ta, 541; Goito, 413, 541; 
Rovere, 542, 545; Fayorita, 
460, 542) ; Villeggiatura, 
villas, and country-life of 
the Gonzaghi, 413, 422, 458, 
460, 540-542, 548; Virgil: 
(404, 405-6, 441-2, 456, 457, 
543-4; festa of, 543-4; house 
of, 544; statue of, 441-2) ; 
Vittorino da Feltre, 412, 544; 
Visconti, Gian Galeazzo, 410, 
470; Viani, Antonio, 430, 437, 
476, 542; Via Sogliari, 434-5; 
Via Cavour, 459; Walls, — see 
Ramparts; Zevio, Stefano da, 
466. 



INDEX 



581 



Note: the Environs of Man- 
tua are all indexed under Man- 
tua. 

Marconi, Rocco: 64. 
Martinengo, town, and family 

of: 70, 71. 
Maria Teresa (or Theresa), 

Empress: 135, 237, 425, 523. 
Marabotti, the: 229. 
Marmirolo, Villa of: 458. 
Massacra di Pavia: 270. 
Masolino, da Panicale: ii2, 

153, 154, 155, 156-170. 

Masaccio: 156, 158. 

Matilda of Tuscany, Countess: 
406-7, 446-8, 544-545 ;— and 
her tomb, 447, 545. 

Medici, Giovanni dei, (delle 
Bande Nere) : 462. 

Menghi, Pietro: 479. 

Melegnano: 306. 

Melone, Altobello: 334-5, 361, 
362, 392, 393. 

Michelangiolo: 416, 417, 504. 

Mincio river, the: 403, 404, 405. 

Milan: 

Destruction of, 177, 282-4; 
Delia Torre, the, 5; electric 
power of, 184; Guelfic lead- 
ership of, 228 ; Henry VII, 
Emp., 6 ; Napoleon I, corona- 
tion at M., 93-94; rebuilding 
of M., 4, 178 ; School of art 
of, II, 118, 120, 303; Sforza 
rule of, 10-12; Visconti rule 
of, 5-11. 

Milanese, the: 

Aspect of, 76-yS, 80-81, 113- 
5, 132-3; agriculture of, 73, 
113-114, 116; canals and 
waterways of, 110-112, 171, 
195 ; country-houses and vil- 
las of, — see Brianza, Monte; 
electric plants, power, and 
railways of, 171, 184; extent 
and topography of, 110-112; 
industries of, 180- 181, 184;^ 



people of, 81, 177, 184; silk- 
trade of, 1 80-1 8 1 ; tramways 
of, 102, 171 ; wheat crops of, 

73- 

Miradori: 372. 

Mola, Ant. and Paolo della: 
482, 511. 

Monferrato, Marquisate and 
Duchy of: 421, 422. 

Monsignori, Fran.: 458. 

Montanara: 542. 

Monfredini: 368. 

Montefeltri, Guidobaldo: 402. 

Montagna, Bart.: 215. 

Monastic orders, — wealth and 
suppression of: 192-3. 

Monte dei Fiori: 

Aspect and location of, 133, 
141, 143 ; Ascent of, by road, 
143, 144-5 ; ascent of, by rail, 
143-4; Aguggiari, Fra, 144 
146; Bussola, Dionigi, 145; 
chapels of, roadside, — 144- 
145 ; Madonna del Monte, 
church and shrine of, 133, 
145-7; Sacromonte, village of, 
145 ; Sacromonte, as a moun- 
tain, — a shoulder of the Mon- 
te dei Fiori, — 143-7 I Silva, 
Fran., 145 ; tramway to, 143 ; 
views from, 144, 145, 147. 

Monza : 

Antharis, and Agilulf, 
Kings, 82; Appiani, Andrea, 
105-6 ; aspect and situation of 
M., 81, 84; Beauharnais, 
Prince Eugene, and his con- 
sort, 105 ; Berengarius, pali- 
otto of, 95-6; Cathedral: (as- 
pect and location of, 85-88 ; 
campanile, 87; cemetery, old, 
100; choir, 95-96; faQade, 86- 
87, 88; history of, 81, 82-83; 
interior, 88, 89-91 ; Iron 
Crown, the, 91-95, 97; Otho 
III, relief of coronation of, 
95; paliotto of Berengarius, 
95-96; Piazza of, (del Duo- 



582 



INDEX 



mo), 85; portal, main, 86, 88; 
Theodolinda, 88-89, 90-91, — 
emblem of, 95, 97, — treasures 
of, see cathedral-treasury; 
treasury, cathedral, — 88-89, 
96-99; Troso, frescoes of, 90; 
Visconti, Ettore, body of, 
100) ; Campione, Matteo da, 
83, 86, 88, 95; Castracani, 
Castruccio, 83 ; Cavalazzi, 
the, 83 ; Chateau, Royal, — or 
Castello Reale: (aspect and 
location of, 102-104; history 
of, 104-106 ; park of, 104, 106- 
109; rulers of, 104-6; in- 
terior and frescoes of, 105- 
106) ; Colleoni, Bart., 83-84; 
Duomo, and Piazza del, — see 
Cathedral ; d'Este, Beatrice, 
Archduchess of Austria, 104- 
5 ; Ferdinand, Archduke, 104- 
5; Forni, Visconti palace — 
fortress of, 83, 84; Guercino, 
90; History of M., 81-84; ho- 
tel of, 85 ; Humbert, King, — 
see Umberto ; Iron Crown of 
Lombardy, 81, 91-95, 97, 228; 
Louis of Bavaria, Emp., 83 ; 
Luini, Bern., 95; S. Maria in 
Istrada, 101-102; Milanese 
rule of M., 83-84; Municipio, 
85; Napoleon the Great, 105; 
Otho HI, coronation of, at 
M., 95 ; Palazzo Municipale 
(Arengario), 85; Park, royal, 
106-109 ; Population of M., 
81 ; Procaccini, C, 95 ; Piaz- 
za Roma, 85 ; Theodolinda, 
Queen, 82, 84, 88-89, 90-91, 
95, 97,— emblem of, 95, 97,— 
treasure of, 82, 88-89, 96-99; 
Theodoric the Great, 81-82; 
Toricelli, the, 83 ; tramcars 
of M., 102; treasure, royal, 
of the Lombards, — see cathe- 
dral-treasury; Troso da 
Monza, 84, 90; Umberto I, 
King, visits and death of, 



106, — monument of, 106; Vis- 
conti, the: (sway of, at M., 
83-84; Azzo, 83; Ettore, body 
of, 100; Filippo Maria, 83- 
84; Galeazzo, 83; Marco, 

83).. 
Moroni, G. B.: 2, 54, 66. 
Moretto: 33, 59-60, 67, 68. 
Morone, Fran.: 34, 66, 70. 
Moretti, Crist.: 333, 362, 363. 
Mortara: 287. 
Mulberry-tree cultivation: 113, 

180-181, 548. 

N 

Nani, Sebastiano da: 347. 
Napoleon the Great: 3, 56, 58- 

59, 93-94, 105, 195, 237-8, 286, 

298, 426, 474. 
Napoleon HI: 518. 
Natali: 376. 
Naviglio Grande: m. 
Nepos, Cornelius: 222. 
Nevers, Charles de': 424-5. 
Nevers, ducal line of: 424-5. 
Nova, Pietro and Paxino da: 

13, 36, 46, 62. 
Novara: 5. 

Novara, Bartolinoda: 410. 
Novi, Nardino: 211, 212. 

O 

Ocnus: 404. 

Odoacer: 223-224. 

Octavius, — see Augustus. 

Oglio river: 433, 

Olona river: in, 133. 

Olona valley: 111-112, 133, 150, 

— railways of, 112. 
Olona gorge: 150 
Ombriano: 311. 
Orefici, Degli: 532. 
Orestes: 223. 
Orfeo, the: 516. 
Orsini, Felici: 518. 
Orsolini, Tommaso: 209, 245, 
Orto, Vincenzo dell': 118, 



INDEX 



583 



Otto I (or Otho I) : 279. 
Otto III (or Otho III) : 95. 
Ottone, Lorenzo: 475. 



Pagni, Benedetto: 430, 466, 523, 

527, 528. 
Pallavicino, Marchese: 237. 
Paleologa, Margherita, and 

Gonzaga dukedom of the: 

421. 
Palma Vecchio: 2, 14, 34, 65, 68. 
Palraa Giovane: 33, 65, 277, 

475- . 

Parks in Lombardy, absence of: 
113-114. 

Papia, — the Lombard name for 
Pavia, — which see. 

Parmesan cheese: 290. 

Pavia, Battle of: 218, 234-5, 
240. 

Pavia, Canal of: m, 195, 239. 

Pavia, Certosa of, — see Certosa 
di Pavia. 

Pavia, Lorenzo da: 414-415, 
485. 

Pavia, city of: 

Adalbert, Emp., 274; Ale- 
laide, Queen, 279 ; Agostino 
da Vaprio, 276 ; Alaric, 222- 
3 ; Alboin, 225-6 ; Allea di Pi- 
azza Castello, 248, 253, 261 ; 
Amadeo, G. G., 244, 271, 278- 
9; Aragon, Isabella of, 221, 
230, 231, 232; Arduino of Iv- 
rea, 271 ; Aribert, King, 278, 
279; Arrigo II, of Germany, 
271; Aspect of, 220-221, 264; 
Attila, 223 ; S. Augustine, 
256, — Area of, 222, 250, 253, 
254-6, 257; Augustus, Emper- 
or, 222; Austrian rule, 237; 
Balduccio, Giov., 254; Bar- 
tolommeo, Fra, 277; Battle of 
P., 218, 234-5, 240; Beccaria, 
the, 229, 278; Bellini, Gian, 
277; Bembo, Bonifazio, 250, 



252; Berengarius, King, 271; 
Bernardino da Feltre, 260; 
Berengarius II, King, 279; 
Boethius, 224-5, 257-8, 261 ; 
Borromeo, Cardinal, 247 ; Bo- 
tanical Gardens, 246, 263 ; 
Bridge, the old, 239, 274-5; 
Broletto, the, 242; Bramante, 
231, 243-4, 262; Brossano, 
Fran, da, 260; burning of P., 
227; Buonfigli, 276; Bussola- 
ri, Jacopo de', 229; Cairoli: 
(palace of the, 253 ; family 
and history of the, 253 ; mon- 
ument to the, 265-266) ; Cam- 
pione, Matteo da, 254, — Bo- 
nino da, 250, 254; Cassi, En- 
rico, 265; Cathedral, 231, 
240, 242-5; Canal of P., m, 
i95> 239 ; Castello, of the Vis- 
conti, 221, 229, 230, 231-4, 
248-252; Charles V, Emp., 
233-6; Charles VIII, of 
France, 232 ; Charlemagne, 
226, 253, 271 ; Clarence, Duke 
of, 250; Collegio Borromeo, 
246-7 ; Columbus, Crist., 245 ; 
Corso Cavour, 240; Corso 
Vitt. Emanuele, 239-240, 245, 
247, 253; Correggio, 277; 
Collegio Ghisleri, 262; Con- 
vents of P., 275-6; Conradin, 
228 ; Constantius, Emp., 222 ; 
Crespi, D. and G. B., 245 ; 
Desiderius, 226; Destruction 
of M., by Huns, 226-7; Dolce- 
bono, 243-4; Duomo, Piazza 
del, 243 ; Epiphanius, 223, 
224; d'Este, Beatrice, 221, 
230-232 ; d'Edesia, Andrino, 
269, 272, 280; S. Eusebio, 
276 ; Eremetani, monastery 
and church of the, 257, 258 ; 
Fallabrini, the, 229 ; Farinata, 
Paolo, 277; Foppa, Vincenzo, 
250, 252; Francis I, King, 
233-5; S. Francesco, 262; 
French rule of P., 233-5; 



584 



INDEX 



French sack of P., 235, 251; 
Frederick I, Barbarossa, 220, 
228, 242, 271-2; Garibaldi, 
253, — monument to, 249, 252- 
3 ; Ghibelline leadership of P., 
227-8 ; Giovenone, Girolamo, 
277; Gonzaga, Federigo, 233; 
Gonzales, Fran., Governor, 
261; Henry II, Erap., 227; 
Henry VII, Emp., 228-9; His- 
tory of P.: (220, 222-239; Ro" 
man P., 222-3 ; Gothic, 224-5 l 
Byzantine, 225 ; Lombard, 
225-6; Prankish, 226; inde- 
pendent republic, 227-8 ; Ghi- 
belline leader, 227-8; Scala 
rule, 228; Visconti rule, 229- 
230; Sforza rule, 230-235; 
French rule, 233-5; Spanish, 
235-7; Austrian, 237); Hono- 
rius, Emp., 222-3 > Hotel of 
P., 241 ; Imperialism of P., 
227-8; 237-8; Independence of 
P., 2^27-8; Inquisition at P., 
236, 237; Jesuitry, 236, 237; 
Joseph II, Emp., 237; Justin- 
ian, Emp., 225 ; S. Lanf ran- 
co: (life of, 278; church and 
monastery of, 278; area of, 
278-9) ; Lautrec, Gen., 233, 
235, 251; Liberale, 276; Li- 
brary, Visconti, 251; Leyva, 
Gen., rule of, 235-6; Livia, 
Empress, 222 ; Location of P., 
222, 225 ; Longasco, the, — and 
Ricciardino, — ^229 ; Lothaire, 
Emp., 227-8 ; Louis XII, of 
France, 232-3; Lothaire, 
King, 279; Lombard: (cap- 
ital, 225-6 ; sculpturCj 266-9, 
271; mosaic, 271; racial char- 
acteristics, 266, 268-9 ; coro- 
nations at P., 271-2; royal 
palace, 273-4; influence, and 
features, 221-2 ; buildings, 
221, 264; churches, 221-222, 
266-273, 278) ; Luini, Bern., 
277; Luitprand, King, 253, 



257, 258; S. Maria del Car- 
mine, 258-260; Maria Teresa, 
Empress, 237; Marabotti, the, 
229 ; S. Maria di Canepanova, 
262-3 ; Massacra di Pavia, 
270; Magnentius, Emp., 222; 
Mercato Coperto, 264-5; S. 
Michele Maggiore, 222, 228, 
264, 266-272; Municipio, Pi- 
azza and Palazzo of, 240, 
263 ; Museo Civico, 260, 276- 
7; Napoleon the Great, 237- 
8 ; Nepos, Cornelius, 222 ; 
Odoacer, 223-4; Orestes, 223; 
Otto I, Emp., 279; Orsolino, 
245 ; Papia, — the Lombard 
Pavia, — 225-6 ; Palma Gio- 
vane, 277; Palazzo, Malaspi- 
na, 260, — Vescovile, 245, — 
Municipale, see Municipio; 
Petrarch, 250, 251, 252, 260- 
261 ; Pellegrini, Pellegrino, 
247 ; Pius V, Pope, statue of, 
262; Piazzas: (del Popolo, 
264-5; Grande, 240, 241-2); 
S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, 222, 
253-8; Population of P., 221; 
Porta Cavour, 240; Porta 
Garibaldi, 240; Porta Milano, 
239; SS. Primo e Feliciano, 
276; Railway station, 240; 
Ramparts, 241, 261 ; Republic 
of P., 227-8; Risorgimento, 
monument of the, 248 ; Roc- 
chi, Crist, 244;' Romulus Au- 
gustulus, 223 ; Scala, Mastino 
della, and rule of the, 228 ; 
Salimbene, Martino, tomb of, 
271; S. Salvatore, 278, 279- 
280; Seven Spanish Devils, 
the, 236; Sforza: (sway of 
the, 230-235; Francesco, 230; 
Gian Galeazzo, 230, 231, 232; 
Lodovico (II Moro), 230- 
233; Maximilian, 233; Fran- 
cesco II, 233, 234, 235); 
Spanish sway in P., and deso- 
lation of, 235-7; Spanish no- 



INDEX 



585 



bility, 236-7, 253 ; S. Stefano, 
remains of, 243 ; Spallanzani, 
221 ; Stilicho, 222-3 5 Suf- 
folk and Lorraine, Dukes of, 
235, 258 ; S. Teodoro, 275 ; 
Terracotta work, 277, 278 ; 
Theodoric, 224-5, — Palace, of, 
273-4; Ticino river, 239, 274- 
5 ; Ticinum, — the Roman Pa- 
via, 220, 222-4; Tiberius, 
Emp., 222; Topography of P., 
239-240 ; Towers, mediaeval, 
221, 263-4; Torre Maggiore, 
243 ; University of P., 221, 
231, 238-9, 245-7; Venezia, 
Bern, da, 250; Vitone, Ven- 
tura, 244; Vinci, Leonardo 
da, 245; Visconti: (rule of 
the, 229-230; castle of the, — 
see Castello; Galeazzo, 229, 
250-251; Gian Galeazzo, 229, 
250-251, 257; Filippo Maria, 
229-230; Matteo) ; Vivarini, 
Luigi, 276; Volta, 221, 246; 
Walls of P., — see Ramparts; 
Zucchio, Federico, 247. 

Paulus, Jacopo: 62. 

Pedoni, Giov. Gaspare: 372-3, 
386. 

Pellagra, the: 74. 

Pellegrini: (Galeazzo, 2n ; 
Pellegrino, 247). 

Pensaben, Fra Marco: 69. 

People of Lombardy, the: 81, 
177, 184. 

Perugino: 203-4, 334» S^i, 416, 
417, 424, 502, 503. 

Petrarch: 250, 251, 252, 260- 
261, 409. 

Piazza: (school of the, 295, 
296, 298, 301 ; Albertino, 
294, 295, 297, 301, 302, 304, 
322; Martino, 295, 297, 301- 
2, 304, 322; Calisto, 294-5, 
301, 302, 304, 319; Fulvio, 

304)- 
Pietole: 405, 543-4- 
Pisano, Vittore (Pisanello) : 

(>-], 401. 



Pius II, Pope: 443, 471-2. 

Plague of 1528: 420. 

Platina, Giov. Maria: 368. 

Plain of Lombardy: (aspects 
of, various, the, 73, 74, 76- 
78, 113-5, 132-3, 149-150, 289- 
290, 305, 354-5, 548; vegeta- 
tion and crops of, 73-74, 113- 
4, 116, 143, 149, 289-290, 548; 
dairy products of, 143, 290, 
305; viniculture of, 116). 

Po river: no, m, 237, 341, 
378. 

Podermo, electric power plant 
of: 184. 

Politian: 516. 

Polli, Bart de': 210. 

Pompeius Strabo: 281. 

Ponte della Selva: 69. 

Pontida, — and the Oath of 
{Giuramento di) : 4, 177, 
178, 326. 

Pontirolo (Pons. Aureoli) : 3. 

Porata, Giacomo: 347, 348. 

Pordenone (Giov. Ant. de' 
Sacchis) : 335, 360, 363, 365. 

Porta, Villa: 541. 

Porta: (Giacomo della, 211; 
Giov. Batt. della, 556). 

Pozzi, Ambrogio da: 368. 

Poscanthe, Giov. G. Gavasio 
da: 22, 32, 34. 

Praxiteles: 504. 

Previtali, Andrea: 2, 14, 15, 
29-30, 31, 32, 34, 65, 66, 68. 

Primaticcio: 401, 420, 430, 486, 
488, 523, 531, 532, 534, 538. 

Procaccini, C. : 95, 129, 218, 
219, 293. 



Quadrilateral, the Austrian: 
404, 427, 428. 

R 

Raphael (Raffaello) : 68. 



586 



INDEX 



Recanati, II: 493. 

Reggia, the, — see under Man- 
tua. 

Rembrandt: 67. 

Reni, Guido: 68. 

Resegnone, Mte. : 74. 

Ricca: (Battista, 377; Bernar- 
dino, 366). 

Riccio, A.: 218. 

Roccoli: 115, 116. 

Rocchi, Crist.: 244. 

Romanino: 21, 70, 71, 335, 363. 

Romano, town of: 70, 71, 72. 

Romano: (Giov. Crist., 211, 
385, 483 ; Galli da, 218 ; 
Giulio, — see under Mantua). 

Romulus Augustulus: 223. 

Roncaglia, Diet of: 282. 

Rosa, Mte., and range of: 77- 
78, 142. 

Rovere, town and villa of, 542, 

545. 

Rovere, Duke Fran Maria del- 
la : 402. 

Rubens: 423, 457. 

Ruboni, 477. 



Sacchis, Agostino de': 368. 

Sabbioneta : 

Bozzolo, Principality of, 
546, 548; Cavalli, Alberto, 
554; Campi, (school of the, 
552-4, 557-9; Bernardino, 
552-4, 557-9; Antonio, 552-4, 
557-9) ; church, parochial, 
550-551, 560; Commessagio 
(and Gonzaga villa), 548; 
Gallery of Sculptures {La 
Galleria), 550, 559-560; 
Gates, town,— 549, 556-7; 
Gonzaghi, princes of the, 
546-7, 548 ; Gonzaghi, Ves- 
pasiano dei, 546-7, 549, 55i- 
4, 555, 556, 557-9,— and his 
tomb, 555-6; guide of, prin- 



cipal, 551; history of, 546-7; 
Hospital, Ducal, 555-6; In- 
coronata, church of the, 555- 
6; Inn of, principal, 555; 
Leoni, Leone, 556 ; location 
of, 546; Monument of Duke 
Vespasiano, 555-6; Ospedale 
Civico, 555, 556; Palazzi 
(palaces), — (Ducale, or Mu- 
nicipal, 551-4; del Giardino, 
550, 557-9; dell' Olio, 554) ; 
Piazza Garibaldi, 550-551 ; 
Piazza d'Armi, 549-550; Por- 
ta Venti Settembre, 549; Por- 
ta, Giov. Batt. della, 556; 
ramparts of, 548-9, 557; Sca- 
mozzi, 547, 550, 557; sculp- 
tures, Vespasiano's collection 
of, 454, 550, 559-560; Thea- 
tre of Scamozzi, the Ducal, 
550, 557; topography of S., 
549; tramway to, 547-9; Via 
Giulia, 549, 550. 

Sacromonte, — see Monte dei Fi- 
ori. 

Sacchetta, Villa: 541. 

Saint, — see under the personal 
name. 

Santi, Giov.: 417. 

Santa Croce: (Girolamo da, 2; 
Francesco da, 16, 34, 66, 68). 

San Secondo, Jacopo da: 505. 

Sansovino: 504. 

San Guiniforte: 198. 

Sarto, Andrea del: 423. 

Saronno: 

Abbiate, 119; Amaretti, 
117; artistic importance of, 
112, 118; aspect and location 
of, 112, 117, 131-2; electric 
power of, 171 ; Ferrari, Gau- 
denzio, 112, 1 19-120, 123, 124- 
5; Lanini, Bern., 119, 123; 
Luini, Bern., 112, 118-9, 123, 
126-131; Magno Cesare del, 
119, 123; S. Maria dei Mira- 
coli (il Santuario) : (ap- 
proach to, and location of, 



INDEX 



587 



117, 120, 121 ; exterior, 120- 
122; history of, 118; decora- 
tion of, n8-i2o; the nave, 

122, 129-130; presbytery, 
122-3, 125-126; dome, 123-5; 
choir, and vestibule to, 126- 
9 ; retrochoir, 129 ; sacristy, 
129; cloister, 130; Luini, la- 
bors of, 118-119, — frescoes of, 

123, 126-131; Ferrari, labors 
of, 119-120, — frescoes of, 123, 
124-5; Lanini, 119, 123; Ab- 
biate, 119; Magno, Cesare 
del, 119, 123; Procaccini, C, 
129) ; Orto, Vincenzo dell', 
118; SS. Pietro e Paulo, — ^pi- 
azza of, and church of, — 132; 
Population of S., 117; Procac- 
cini, C, 129; railways to S., 
112, 116-7, 132; Santuario 
della Beata Virgine, — see S. 
Maria dei Miracoli; topogra- 
phy of S., 1x7; tramway from 
Milan, 132. 

Saviolo, town and villa of: 542. 

Scalar (Alberto della, 407; 

Mastino della, 228, 327, 407). 

Scaraozzi: 37, 42, 54, 547, 550, 

557. 

Scultori: 493, 523, 531, 534, 544. 

Secchi, Braraante: 385. 

Serafino: 505. 

Seriana, Val: 2, 69. 

Sesto, Stefano da: 210-211. 

Sforza: (story of the, 10-12, 
230-235; Francesco I, lo, 11, 
230, 310, 321, 330, 398-9, 472; 
Galeazzo, 11, 230, 321-2; 
Gian Galeazzo, 230, 231, 232; 
Lodovico, — II Moro, — 11, 12, 
190-192, 204-207, 230-233, 287, 
288, 330-331, — and his monu- 
ment, 204-7 ; Maximilian, 12, 
233, 285, 306, 419; Francesco 
II, 12, 233,^ 234, 235, 419-420; 
Bianca, dei Visconti, 330-331, 

398-9).. 
Shooting in Lombardy: 115-116. 



Sigismund, Emp., 329, 356, 411, 

.412, 534. 
Sigismund, Duke, of Austria: 

472. 
Signorelli: 67. 
Silk trade of Lombardy: 180- 

181. 
Silva, Fran.: 145. 
Siry, Sixtus: 50. 
Smuggling into Lombardy: 134- 

135- 
Sodoma: 67. 
Soiaro, the, — see Gatti. 
Solari, Crist.: 49, 192, 206-207, 

210. 
Solario, Andrea: 215. 
Soncino, town and battle of: 

231-2. 
Soranzo, Piero: 493-4. 
Sordello: 431. 
Spagnuoli: 431. 
Spallanzani: 221. 
Spanish rule, and desolation, of 

Lombardy: 235, 236-7, 286, 

331, 332. 
Spanish Seven Devils, the: 236, 

286. 
Spanish Succession, War of the, 

237. 
Speri, Tito: 428, 518. 
Spinone, Lake of: 69. 
Stanga, Marchese Ildefonso, — 

and his model farm: 387-389. 
Stauris, Rinaldo de': 217, 218. 
Stilicho: 222-223. 
Strabo, Pompeius: 281. 
Stradivari, Antonio: 340. 



Talpino: 2, 17. 

Tarsia, Pietro della: 368. 

Tarsia: {chefs d'cewvres of, 17, 

28, 47-48, 52-53, 210; greatest 

artists of, 17, 210). 
Tasso: (Bernardo, 18, 417, 431- 

2; Torquato, 39, 432). 



588 



INDEX 



Te, Palazzo del, — ^near Man- 
tua — : 

Artistic importance of, 520- 
522; Atrium, the Grand {At- 
rio di Davide), 532-533; 
Beauharnais, Prince Eugene, 
533; Boschetti, Isabella, 522, 
527, 528; Camerini, the (rear 
chambers), 538-9; Caravag- 
gino, 533, 537; Court, the 
{Cortile)y 525; d'Este, Isa- 
bella, 540; exterior of, 524-5, 
533; Garden, the, 525, 533; 
Garden-Colonnade, the, 533; 
Giovanni da Udine, 538, 539; 
Gonzaghi, the: (Francesco 
IV, 522; Federigo II, 522-3, 
527 ; Guglielmo I, 523 ; Vin- 
cenzo I, 523) ; Grotta, the Ca- 
sino della, 533, 539-540; his- 
tory of, 420, 422, 425, 522-4; 
location of, 432, 522, 524; 
Mantovani: (Battista, 523; 
Camillo, 525; Rinaldo, 523, 
525, 527, 528, 537) ; Manteg- 
na, school of, 539; Mantoa- 
nello, 531; Maria Teresa, 
523; Orefici, Degli, 532; Pag- 
ni, Ben., 523, 527, 528; Por- 
tico, entrance, — 525 ; Primatic- 
cio, 523, 531, 532, 534» 538; 
renovation of, 523, 538 ; Ro- 
mano, Giulio, 520-523, 526- 
540; Sala: (dei Cavalli, 526- 
7; di Psyche, 527-530; delle 
Medaglie, 531; di^ Fetonte, 
531-2; degli Stucchi, 534; di 
Cesare, 534-5; dei Giganti, 
535-7); sculptures of, 454; 
Scultori, 523, 531, 534; Sigis- 
mund, Emp., entry of, 534; 
spoliation of the Palace, 523, 

532, 538-9- 
Tebaldo, Count: 406, 446, 

544- 
Terracotta, chefs d'cewvres of: 
loi, 201-2, 215-217, 218, 258- 
260, 277-8, 312-3, 315-6, 319- 



320, 386-7, 389, 391-392, 440, 
445, 457. 
Theodolinda, Queen: 82, 88-89, 

90-91, .95, 97. 
Theodoric the Great: 81-82, 

224-5, 273. 
Tiberius, Emp.: 222. 
Tibaldi, Pellegrino: 137. 
Ticino river: ixo, m, 171. 
Ticino Canal, and power-plant: 

171- 

Ticinum, — see Pavia. 

Tiepolo, G. B.: 50, 55. 

Tintoretto: 423. 

Tiziano (Titian) : 14, 302, 416, 
421, 423-4, 489, 503, 544. 

Torbido, Fran. : 439. 

Torre, Delia: (family of the, 5, 
284; Martino, 284). 

Torre Pallavicina: 322. 

Tradate: 133. 

Tramways and cars, of the Mi- 
lanese: 102. 

Treasure, royal, of the Lom- 
bards, — see under Monza. 

Trescorre: 61, 69. 

Trezzo, Castle of: 74-76. 

Trisseno, Giangiorgio: 506. 

Triumvirate, the Second: 325, 
405-6. 

Trivulzio: (family of the, 288; 
Christina, 288-9). 

Troso da Monza: 84, 90. 

Trotti, Cav., — see Malosso. 



U 



UbbriachI, Bernardo degli: 209. 
Udine, Giovanni da: 538, 539. 
Umberto I, King: 106. 
Usmate: 76, 80, 117. 

V 

Vairone, Biagio: 210-211. 
Valtellina: 2. 
Van Orleys: 379. 
Vaprio, Agostino da: 276. 



INDEX 



589 



Varesotto, — the tableland of Va- 
rese: 132-133, 143, 149-150. 

Varese, Lake of: 141-142; 170- 
171. 

Varese, Battle of: 136, 170. 

Varese, city of: 

Aspect and location of, iii, 
133-4; Baptistery, the, 138-9; 
Casino of, 142; Corte, II, 140- 
141; electric power of, 171; 
• environs of, 141-2, 143-8, 170- 
171; Excelsior Hotel, grounds 
and view from, 142; excur- 
sions from v., 141-2, 143-8, 
170-171; Francis III, Duke: 
135, 140; Garibaldi, 136, 170; 
Gardens, Public, 140-141 ; Gi- 
ovenone, Girolamo, 139; his- 
tory of v., 134-5, 136; hotels 
of, 134, 142; Lake of V., 141- 
2, 170-171; Maria Teresa, 
Empress, 135; Monte dei Fi- 
ori, — see under M; Monu- 
ment to Garibaldi and the 
Cacciatori delle Alpi, 135-6; 
Municipio, 140-141 ; Muse- 
um, city — , 141 ; Podesta, Pi- 
azza del, 135-6, 139; popula- 
tion of v., 135; railways to, 
112, 133; Sacromonte, — see 
Monte dei Fiori, under M; 
smuggling of V., the, 134-5; 
Tableland of V., 132-3, 143, 
149-150; Tibaldi, Pellegrino, 
137; tramways of V., 141, 
171; Villa Ponti, 170; Villa 
Litta ModignanI, 170; S. Vit- 
tore, Piazza and church of, 
136-8. 

Velasquez: 68. 

Vellata, Pietro di: 210. 

Venegono Superiore: 112, 133, 
149. 

Venezia, Bernardo da: 198, 202, 
250. 

Venusti, Marcello: 68. 

Vespasiano, Emp., 325. 

Vesper-bells: 68-69. 



Vlani, Ant.: 430, 437, 476. 542. 
Vida, Marco Girolamo: 340- 

.341, 377, 395- 

Vigevano: 287. 

Vignate, Giov. : 285. 

Villari, General: 332. 

Villeggiatura, life of: 78-80. 

Vino, Sebastiano del: 477. 

Vinci, Leonardo da, — see Leo- 
nardo. 

Viniculture in Lombardy, — see 
Lombardy. 

Violin, discovery and develop- 
ment of the: 339-340. 

Virgil: 404, 405-6, 441-2, 456, 
457, 543-4, — and see also un- 
der Mantua. 

Vistarini, the: 285. 

Visconti, the: (story of, 5-11; 
Otho, Archbishop, 5, 6, 284, 
327-8; Matteo, il Grande, 6, 
229; Azzo, 6, 83, 328; Gio- 
vanni, Archbishop, 7; IBerna- 
bo, 7, 74-75; Marco, 83; Ga- 
leazzo, 7, 83, 229, 250-1 ; 
Gian Galeazzo, 7-9, 75, 189- 
190, 201, 211-213, 215, 229, 
250-251, 257, 410, 470, — and 
his monument, 211-213; Fi- 

■ lippo Maria, 9-1.1, 83-84, 195- 
6, 218, 229-230, 285, 310, 329- 
330; Bianca (Sforza), 330- 
331, 398-9; Caterina, wife of 
Gian Galeazzo, 9). 

Vitone, Ventura: 244. 

Vivarini: (Bartolomeo, 66] Lui- 

Vizzola, electric power-plant 

of: 171. 
Voghera: 287. 
Volpi, Ambrogio: 209. 
Volta: 221, 246. 



W, X, Y, Z 

Wheat-crops of Lombardy: 73- 
74- 



590 INDEX 

Waterways of Lombardy: no- Zevio, Stefano da: 466. 

112. Zucchio, Federico: 247. 

Wenceslaus, Emp. : 229. Zurich, Treaty of: 428. 
Zavattari, the brothers: 90. 



